Russia has described the US-announced delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine as a further escalation in the war. “Washington continues to step up its efforts in the conflict,” Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said, according to the State Department in Moscow.
Even without the cluster munitions, the USA is deeply involved in the conflict and is bringing “mankind closer to a new world war”. Russia attacked Ukraine at the end of February 2022, and the United States is supporting the attacked country in its defensive struggle.
The US is so obsessed with inflicting defeat on Russia that it fails to take into account the seriousness of its actions, Antonov said. The delivery of cluster munitions was a “gesture of desperation” with which the US and its allies put their impotence on the day. They did not want to admit their own failures in the Ukrainian counter-offensive against the Russian positions. “That’s why they commit new madness.”
Antonov: Washington disregards the opinion of its allies
According to Antonov, the use of cluster munitions will increase the number of war victims and only prolong the “death struggle of the Kiev regime”. Washington also disregarded the opinion of its allies, who opposed the use of “indiscriminately” killing cluster munitions. Antonov pointed out that many NATO members had signed the treaty banning cluster munitions. Like more than 100 other countries, Germany follows the so-called Oslo Agreement – the USA and Russia do not.
At the same time, Antonov stressed that the arming of Ukraine with Western weapons would not affect “achieving the goals of the military special operation”. That’s what Moscow officially calls the war. According to human rights organizations, Russia uses cluster munitions itself. Nevertheless, the Russian diplomat accused Washington of ignoring warnings from experts and human rights activists against such an “inhumane step”. It will be the fault of the USA that unexploded ordnance endangered civilians for many years.
Cluster munitions are rockets and bombs that burst in the air over the target and scatter or release many small explosive devices – so-called submunitions. The cluster munitions are part of a new $800 million US military aid package.
