On July 7, US President Joe Biden
announced that he would send cluster munitions to Ukraine, which has an
extensive record of killing civilians, bypassing a US law prohibiting the
production, use or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more
than 1%.
The cluster munitions being sent are
fulfilling a request from Ukraine, to help in the counter-offensive against
Russian troops. The failure rate of these munitions is approximately 2.5%,
which is part of the reason why this decision is shrouded in controversy.
From Wikipedia, a cluster munition is a
form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects
smaller submunitions. This results in a large area of potential bombing, which
pose risks to civilians both before and afterwards attacks, as unexploded
“duds” can explode long after.
As the war between Ukraine and Russia
continues, the increasing involvement of the US in the war will only further
increase the conflict between the US and Russia. This decision from Joe Biden
could be a turning point for the direction of the war, wether that is for the
better or worse, only time will tell.