US thinking about providing Ukraine with cluster munitions, Milley says

The Biden administration is considering providing the Ukrainian military with cluster munitions, which is a weapon the U.S. has previously declined to provide.

Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged that the U.S. has been thinking about providing these munitions, which can come in the form of rockets, bombs, missiles, and mortar and artillery shells, to Ukraine “for a long time.” They split open midair to dispense smaller bomblets over a larger area. He also described those conversations as an “ongoing process.”

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“We have been thinking about [dual-purpose improved conventional munition] DPICM for a long time. Ukrainians have asked for it. Other European countries have provided some of that, the Russians are using it,” he explained. “So yes, of course, there’s [a] decision-making process ongoing.”

The comments come about a week after Laura Cooper, the Pentagon’s Europe chief, told lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee that “DPICM would be useful, especially against dug-in Russian positions on the battlefield.”

The munitions have been banned by more than 100 countries on humanitarian grounds in part because of the rate they leave “dud” bomblets on the battlefield. The United States is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions — which bans signatories from using the weapons or transferring them to other countries — but the U.S. government largely stopped using cluster bombs in 2003 and has a parallel restriction on their transfer.

Despite the ban, Army Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, the commander of U.S. European Command and supreme allied commander of NATO, told the House Armed Services Committee in April that they would’ve been effective during the battle for Bakhmut, which was the deadliest and longest battle of the war to date.

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“It’s very effective against mixed targets of personnel and equipment, especially when those targets are gathered into dense formations,” the general said. “It is happening in Bakhmut, sir, and it happens on most battlefields when one force goes into the offense. So, as a strictly military matter, it is a useful and very effective munition.”

Milley declined to comment on reports the administration is now considering providing an Army Tactical Missile System, the long-range weapon they have repeatedly declined to give them. The U.S. has denied their request for ATACMS due to concerns that Ukraine could use them to strike targets in Russia, consequently increasing the possibility of Russian escalation or retaliation.

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