When the war in Ukraine was only a few months old, Amnesty International published a report condemning what it had found to be the extensive use of cluster munitions in Kharkiv – by Russia. It noted that the weapons were banned by more than 100 countries and said that in Kharkiv they had claimed hundreds of civilian victims. Cue accusations of war crimes and western outrage against Russia’s uncivilised way of war.
Now, a few days before the Nato summit convenes in Vilnius, President Biden has announced that the US will deliver similar weapons to Ukraine. Recognising that this was going to be a controversial decision, he cited conditions and safeguards agreed for their use, before offering what was clearly intended to be the clinching argument: that ‘the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition’. The unspoken challenge to doubters was: do you really want to be complicit in Ukraine losing this war?
If cluster munitions are some sort of last resort, then Ukraine is in a double bind
Now it is only fair to point out that no laws or conventions are being broken here.
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