Russian President Vladimir Putin has a stern warning for Ukraine: If the nation uses cluster munitions – controversial weapons recently supplied by the United States – Russia “reserves the right to take reciprocal action”.
Putin, in an interview with Rossiya TV posted on Telegram on Sunday, said his country had a “sufficient stock” of its own cluster munitions.
The Biden administration’s announcement in early July that it would deliver the ammunition to Ukraine was denounced by NATO allies. The ammunition has been banned by more than 100 countries and condemned by human rights groups for indiscriminately killing civilians. Russia, Ukraine and the United States have not signed the treaty banning cluster munitions.
But Biden and US security officials say the munitions are needed to bolster Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the 17-month war. The Pentagon said on Thursday that the weapons had arrived in Ukraine.
On Sunday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan defended the US decision. “Our moral authority does not come from being a signatory to the Convention against Cluster Munitions. We’re not, we haven’t been, at any time since this convention came into force, nor is Ukraine,” Sullivan said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
Cluster munitions are artillery shells or bombs that disperse smaller weapons called “bombettes”. ‘Misfied’ bombs that do not explode on impact become landmines that can later detonate and remain deadly for decades, rights groups say.
Putin’s comments were the first since Biden’s announcement. Putin also insisted that Russia had not used cluster bombs so far. “So far we haven’t done it, we haven’t used it and we haven’t had such a need,” he said.
Developments:
◾Russia has launched two Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones, two cruise missiles and two anti-aircraft guided missiles in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian military officials said on Sunday. Russia also launched 40 airstrikes and 46 attacks from multiple rocket launchers, officials said.
◾Two boys, 8 and 10, were injured when an explosive device left behind by Russian forces detonated in the southern region of Kherson on Sunday, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office.
Ukraine condemns Bulgarian President’s comments that Kyiv is responsible for the war
Ukraine on Saturday slammed Bulgarian President Rumen Radev’s remarks that kyiv is responsible for the war with Russia and that supplying arms to Ukraine would only prolong the conflict.
Radev, at a press conference on the recent NATO summit, said he wanted “to make it clear that Ukraine insists on fighting this war. But it must also be clear that the bill is being paid by all of Europe.
Ukraine’s embassy in Sofia said in a statement that kyiv was making every effort to restore peace and dismissed Radev’s comments. Blaming the war on Ukraine, which “was treacherously attacked by its northern neighbor, is one of the most common supporting theses of Russian propaganda and hybrid warfare in Europe,” the embassy said.
UK defense chief criticized for comments on Ukraine to resign
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, who played a key role in the UK’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said on Sunday he would step down in the next cabinet reshuffle.
Wallace served as Secretary of Defense under three prime ministers in four years on the job.
Wallace came under fire last week when he suggested Ukraine should show “gratitude” for military support from the West. He made the remark at the NATO summit in Lithuania after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed frustration at joining the military alliance. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak distanced himself from Wallace’s comments, saying Zelenskyy had “expressed his gratitude for what we have done repeatedly”.
Wallace told The Sunday Times he was quitting because of the strain his job had put on his family.
Contributors: Eric Lagatta, Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY and The Associated Press
