Germany against sending cluster bombs to Ukraine

Vienna, Jul 7 (EFE).- German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday that Berlin is opposed to providing cluster bombs to Ukraine, after reports in the United States said Washington was considering sending the controversial weapons to Kyiv.

Cluster bombs have been banned in 111 countries since the Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions came into force in 2008.

“I have followed the information in the media. For Germany, the Oslo treaty applies,” Baerbock said on the eve of a climate change conference in Vienna.

The Convention prohibits all types of use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of the cluster munitions.

Neither the United States nor Ukraine are part of the Oslo treaty.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also denounced the use of cluster bombs in Ukraine and asked Washington not to supply Kyiv with the weapons.

The airdropped or ground-launched cluster bombs release a large number of sub-munitions that sweep a wide area and pose a deadly threat to civilians.

The unexploded remnants of cluster bombs pose a long-term risk to civilians after a conflict has ended.

Ukraine has said that it will use these bombs only to target deeply entrenched defense lines of the Russian troops during its counter-offensive, and will not pose a danger to the civilian population. EFE

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