Published in The Nation, on July 09th, 2023, Agencies
ISTANBUL-President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday secured Turkey’s crucial backing for Ukraine’s NATO aspirations after winning a US pledge for cluster munitions that could inflict massive damage on Russian forces on the battlefield.
Washington’s decision to deliver the controversial weapons — banned across a large part of the world but not in Russia or Ukraine — dramatically ups the stakes in the war, which entered its 500th day Saturday. Zelensky has been travelling across Europe trying to secure bigger and better weapons for his outmatched army, which has launched a long-awaited counteroffensive that is progressing less swiftly than Ukraine’s allies had hoped. He called the latest US arms package “timely, broad and much-needed”, tweeting that it “will provide new tools for the de-occupation of our land”.
US President Joe Biden admitted that supplying Ukraine with weapons that are capable of covering several football fields with hundreds of multiple small explosives was “a difficult decision”.
“And by the way, I discussed this with our allies,” Biden told CNN. “The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition.” Humanitarian groups strongly condemn the decision to supply cluster munitions, which can go undetonated and potentially endanger civilians for years to come.
Defending the US move, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan argued there was “a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory”. Russian officials issued no immediate response. As the war passed the 500-day mark, the United Nations condemned the civilian cost inflicted.