By Kanishka Singh and Joey Roulette
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine and Representative Barbara Lee raised concerns on Sunday about President Joe Biden’s administration’s decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine to counter the Russian invasion .
The United States said on Friday it would supply Kyiv with the widely banned bombs as part of a new $800 million security package that brings total U.S. military aid to more than $40 billion since the start. of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Rights groups and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have questioned Washington’s decision on the munitions.
Kaine said he had “real qualms” about the US decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine because it could inspire other countries to circumvent an international convention banning the munitions.
“It could give the green light for other nations to do something different as well,” Kaine told Fox News on Sunday. However, he added that he “appreciates that the Biden administration has addressed the risks.”
“They won’t use this ammunition against Russian civilians,” Kaine, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said of Ukraine’s potential use of the bombs, adding that Kiev had given assurances which were presented by the White House on Friday.
Cluster munitions are banned by more than 100 countries. Russia, Ukraine and the United States have not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the production, stockpiling, use and transfer of weapons.
They usually release a large number of small bombs that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that don’t explode pose a danger for decades after a conflict ends.
Lee urged the Biden administration to reconsider this step.
“Cluster bombs should never be used. It’s crossing a line,” she told CNN on Sunday, adding that the United States risked losing its “moral leadership” by sending cluster bombs in Ukraine.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby defended the decision and said the United States was very focused on mine clearance efforts in Ukraine.
“We are very aware of concerns about civilian casualties and unexploded ordnance being picked up by civilians or children and injured,” Kirby said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week.”
“But these ammunition provide useful capability on the battlefield,” he said. He added that Russia uses cluster munitions in Ukraine and “kills civilians indiscriminately”, while Ukrainians will use them to defend their own territory.
Support for Ukraine amid the Russian invasion has been mostly bipartisan in the United States. The Biden administration and many U.S. lawmakers from the Democratic and Republican parties have defended the decision to send the controversial weapons to Ukraine, saying they were needed to speed Kiev’s counteroffensive.
U.S. Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Ukraine’s counteroffensive was progressing slowly and cluster bombs could be a game-changer for Ukrainians.
“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” McCaul told CNN on Sunday.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Joey Roulette, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Scott Malone and Andrea Ricci)