The US decision to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine means it is assuming the responsibility for the future casualties, senior Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev said.
“The US has essentially done this: a) acknowledged Kiev’s inability to achieve anything without using the most-condemned weapons, b) reiterated its readiness to kill civilians to continue military operations at any cost, c) assumed full responsibility for all future victims of these monstrous weapons,” the lawmaker, who is a deputy speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, said on Telegram.
“To be honest, it is no longer of any interest what the so-called civilized community will think about this. That is, a herd of accomplices of all the past crimes of the West, who are frightened by an imminent collapse of the unipolar world,” Kosachev continued.
Senior Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky on Friday said the US decision to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine showed Washington is more concerned about stopping Russia from winning than keeping civilians out of harm’s way.
“The White House’s reasoning behind the decision to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine is the height of cynicism and simply monstrous. The war unleashed by the West against Russia will indeed go on until the last Ukrainian,” said the lawmaker, who is the chairman of the Committee on International Affairs at the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
He also said, “Washington is more concerned about preventing Russia from winning the Ukrainian conflict than it is about the damage to civilians in Ukraine from cluster bombs and shells, which is imminent but yet only collateral for the US.”
Slutsky went on to say that the issue should be raised at the UN Security Council.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday said that the United States had decided to transfer to Ukraine cluster munitions, even as the United Nations opposes the use of them. He also said that Kiev had provided Washington with written guarantees that US cluster munitions will be used with minimal risks to civilians.
Farhan Haq, a deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, earlier said that the UN chief supports the Convention on Cluster Munitions and opposes the use of this type of weapons on the battlefield.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted to social media a video of former White House press secretary Jen Psaki saying the use of cluster munitions is a war crime.
Zakharova brought up the issue in connection with the US move to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine. The video posted to Telegram shows Psaki hitting out at cluster bombs on February 28, 2022.
“A year and a half later, Jake Sullivan, a national security advisor to US President [Joe] Biden told a news conference at the White House about plans to give Ukraine cluster munitions. Waiting for an appearance by Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre,” Zakharova said on Telegram.
The following video, prepared by Al-Manar English Website, shows the US double standards in dealing with a critical issue like the cluster bombs.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki says that the Russian use of cluster bombs is a war crime. Then, the US national security advisor Jake Sullivan justifies the US decision to provide Ukraine with cluster bombs.
The US decided to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine out of despair, but the move won’t affect Russia’s determination to achieve the goals of its special military operation, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Friday.
“Cluster munitions are a desperate gesture. This measure tells the story that the US and its satellites have realized they are powerless. However, they do not want to admit their own failures and the failure of the attempts of Ukrainian forces to conduct an offensive against Russian regions. Hence this latest madness on their part,” he said.
The diplomat said he believes that by raising the stakes in the Ukrainian conflict, Washington is bringing humanity closer to a global conflict.
“The current level of American provocations is indeed off the charts, bringing humanity closer to a new world war. The United States is so obsessed with the idea of defeating Russia that it does not realize the gravity of its actions. They are only increasing the number of victims and prolonging the agony of the Kiev regime,” he went on to say.
The ambassador stated that Washington turned a blind eye to civilian casualties, paid no regard to the concerns of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and shrugged of the objections from its allies.
“The cruelty and cynicism with which Washington has approached the issue of transferring lethal weapons to Kiev is astounding. The administration completely ignored experts, human rights activists, and lawmakers that voiced the theses that the move would be inhumane. It turned a blind eye to civilian casualties. Now there is a risk that the submunitions will be blowing up innocent civilians for many years ahead because of what the US is doing,” Antonov said.
He said he believes that the funneling of Western weapons into Ukraine will not be able to affect Russia’s efforts to achieve the goals of its special military operation, “which aims to eradicate threats to the security of the Russian Federation, including Nazism that has been nurtured in Ukraine.”
Cluster munitions
Cluster bombs can contain hundreds of submunitions. When the bomb is detonated in the air, the submunitions are scattered over an area of tens of square meters. Some of them do not explode immediately and remain on the ground, posing a threat to civilians long after the conflict has ended. The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was adopted in 2008, has been joined by 111 countries, and another 12 have signed but not yet ratified it.
According to the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch, the proportion of unexploded submunitions is usually significantly higher than stated.
Russian air defenses down another Ukrainian Su-27 jet in Kherson Region
Russian air defense forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter in the Donetsk Peoples’ Republic (DPR) and intercepted six HIMARS rockets over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Saturday.
“Air defense capabilities shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 plane near the settlement of Novogrigorovka in the Kherson Region. During the last 24-hour period, they intercepted six rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system,” the spokesman said.
In addition, Russian air defense systems destroyed 17 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Verkhnekamenka (Lugansk People’s Republic), Maryinka, Volodino (in the Donetsk People’s Republic), Ostrikovka, Shirokoye, Mirnoye (in Zaporozhye), Novaya Mayachka, Novaya Kakhovka, Malokakhovka, Ulyanovka (Kherson Region) and Volfino (the Suma Region).
Source: Al-Manar English Website and other websites
