The announcement could come as soon as Friday.
The US is expected to announce as early as Friday that it will provide controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new package of military aid in the fight against Russian invaders, two US officials told ABC News.
The decision to send the munitions will be made by President Joe Biden.
Numerous countries have banned the use of cluster munitions, which can cause civilian deaths and injuries when the bombs do not initially explode after being deployed. The weapons package these bulbs into rockets, bombs, missiles, and artillery shells that break up in mid-air and scatter the munitions over a large area.
The US is not a signatory to an international convention banning the deployment of cluster munitions and last used them during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Ukraine has asked for more and Russia has used them in its invasion.
The failure of small munitions to initially explode is known as the “failure rate” and the higher the failure rate, the more dangerous they can become.
In this March 22, 1986, file photo, U.S. Navy aviation crews place Mark 20 Rockeye II cluster bombs aboard an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea in this Navy file photo of the USA.
US Navy via Reuters, FILE
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday he had no announcement to make about cluster munitions, but acknowledged they had been under consideration.
He explained that there are multiple versions of cluster munitions, but that the version being considered for use in Ukraine is contained in 155mm shells fired from US howitzer artillery.
There are different versions of these shells from different stockpiles, and the ones being looked at for Ukraine would not be older versions with higher failure rates, Ryder said: “The ones we are considering providing would not include older variants with [dud] rates higher than 2.35%.
He insisted that “we would carefully select rounds with lower failure rates for which we have recent test data” starting in 2020. And he noted that Russian failure rates for its cluster munitions are much higher, despite which did not provide an estimate.
Sending cluster munitions to Ukraine would provide “anti-armor and anti-personnel capability,” Ryder said, adding: “Clearly a capability that would be useful in any type of offensive operation.”
