17.08.2023, Donetsk.
The Ukrainian armed units opened fire on Donetsk using cluster munitions, a representative of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to the Joint Center for the Control and Coordination of the Issues related to the Ukrainian War Crimes wrote on his Telegram channel on August 17.
The fire came from the direction of the villages of Netailovo and Galitsynovka at 9:25-9:30 a.m. Moscow time. Two rounds of 155mm cluster munitions were fired from each direction. The munitions exploded in the Kuibyshev, Kiev and Kirov districts.
The United States decided to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine. According to the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, this should be a temporary measure while there is a shortage of conventional shells. After their production is ramped up, there will be no need to supply cluster munitions, he said.
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said that the US decision to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine would be another step towards escalating the conflict. The Arms Control Association and Human Rights Watch hold the same opinion.
A cluster munition consists of submunitions that explode separately after when the main munition is detonated. They pose a particular danger to civilians because some of them remain on the ground unexploded. In this case, they become a kind of landmine.
A convention against the use of cluster munitions was signed in 2008. However, the largest arms producers – the United States, Russia and China – did not join it. Ukraine has not signed the convention either.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
