WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2023) The United States will assist in demining efforts in places where Ukraine will use US-supplied cluster munitions, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Thursday.
"They will record the places that they use them and they will prioritize demining efforts," Austin told CNN. "And we will help them do that, in those places where they gave us the conditions."
Asked how long the US would need to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions, the secretary declined to "speculate." Austin stressed he wants to make sure "Ukraine can remain successful in their fight."
Defending the decision to send the controversial munitions to Kiev, Austin said the Ukrainians have committed to using them only in the "appropriate places," and not in populated areas.
Last week, the US unveiled a new military assistance package for Ukraine that included cluster munitions. The move was widely criticized by human rights activists and opposed by some US lawmakers.
The Russian military will be forced to use similar weapons, which it has plenty of in stocks, against the Ukrainian armed forces if the US supplies cluster munitions to Kiev, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned on Tuesday.
Cluster munitions are banned by the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which has been ratified by 123 countries. The US, Ukraine, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and South Korea have not signed the convention.
