Evidence of Russian Cluster Bombs in Ukraine 🇺🇦

(2 Mar 2022) Rights groups and observers say Russia is using cluster bombs in its invasion of Ukraine, a charge Moscow denies.
If confirmed, deployment of the weapon, especially in crowded civilian areas, would usher in new humanitarian concerns in the conflict, Europe’s largest ground war in generations.
Royal United Services Institute, a London defense think tank, said images of munitions parts recovered from residential areas of Kharkiv are "concrete evidence" that Russia is using cluster bombs.
"Their use suggests the Russians are trying to break morale, inflict terror on the civilian population and the defenders in order to try and force a negotiation or just retreat," said Justin Bronk, an Airpower and Technology Research Fellow at Royal United Services Institute.
Cluster bombs are weapons that open in the air, releasing submunitions, or “bomblets,” that are dispersed over a large area, intended to wreak destruction on multiple targets at once.
Cluster bombs can be delivered by planes, artillery and missiles, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Proponents of banning cluster bombs say they kill indiscriminately and endanger civilians long after their use.
From Syria and Yemen to the Balkans, Afghanistan and Southeast Asia, unexploded ordnance from cluster bombs continues to kill and maim people years or even decades after the munitions were fired.
Though many countries have joined a global convention limiting their use, cluster munitions are still used in conflict zones around the world.
Use of cluster bombs itself does not violate international law, but using them against civilians can be a violation.
As in any strike, determining a war crime requires looking at whether the target was legitimate and if precautions were taken to avoid civilian casualties.
A convention banning the use of cluster bombs has been joined by more than 120 countries who agreed not to use, produce, transfer or stockpile the weapons and to clear them after they’ve been used.
Russia and Ukraine have not joined that convention. Neither has the United States.

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