The White House announced on Tuesday that the US is sending a new $300 million arms package to Ukraine that includes more cluster bombs, which are notorious for killing and maiming civilians.
The arms package is the first for Ukraine to be announced since December 27, as the Pentagon has said it’s out of money to replenish weapons that have been sent to Ukraine, and Congress hasn’t authorized more. US officials claim that the new weapons package is being paid for using savings in the US Army’s budget.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan announced the package and said it was “assistance that Ukraine desperately needs to hold the line against Russian attacks and to push back against the continuing Russian onslaught in the east and in the east and other parts of Ukraine.”
Sullivan also pleaded for Congress to approve the $60 billion President Biden is seeking to fuel the proxy war in Ukraine for another year. “We have said repeatedly here in the briefing room, and President Biden said it to the entire nation in the State of the Union last week, that we cannot provide ongoing assistance to Ukraine without significantly impacting our military readiness absent congressional action,” he said.
According to Task & Purpose, the package includes a cluster bomb variant of 155mm artillery shells, known as dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM). The US first began shipping DPICMs to Ukraine last year as it is running low on the standard high explosive 155mm artillery rounds, which are also included in the arms package.
POLITICO reported that the new arms package also includes a cluster bomb variant of the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMs), known as Anti-Personnel/Anti-Materiel (APAM) missiles, which have a range of about 100 miles. The US first sent APAMs to Ukraine last year but did not initially publicly disclose the shipment.
Cluster bombs spread small submunitions, known as bomblets, over a large area. They are so hazardous to civilians because many of the submunitions do not explode on impact and can be found years or decades later, often by children, as they have in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, where the US dropped hundreds of millions of bomblets during the Vietnam War.
Due to their indiscriminate nature, cluster bombs have been banned by over 100 countries. But the US, Ukraine, and Russia are not signatories to the treaty, known as the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
The Pentagon said the weapons package also includes Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) munitions for the HIMARS rocket systems, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, 105mm artillery shells, AT4 anti-tank weapons, demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing, and spare parts.