Biden Faces Democrat Backlash Over Cluster Munitions for Ukraine

Democratic representatives have condemned the decision by President Joe Biden allowing Ukraine to receive cluster munitions over concerns about the weapons' ability to harm civilians.

A group of 19 House progressives signed a letter opposing the Biden administration's decision announced Friday to green-light the weapons, which are dropped by aircraft or fired by a ground-based weapons system over a target area.

Cluster munitions are designed to disperse explosive submunitions in such quantities that they can main, injure or kill civilians and friendly forces during and long after a conflict ends. The U.S. Russia and Ukraine were not among the 123 signatories to a 2008 treaty banning their use.

The House progressives, led by Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), issued a statement that said the decision ran counter to Congress' previous moves to restrict the supply of the munitions, due to "indiscriminate harm they cause."

"There is no such thing as a safe cluster bomb," the statement said, adding that U.S. support against Russia "does not require that undermine the United States' leadership in advocating for human rights around the world."

Ahead of Biden's decision, research released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that Ukrainian cluster munition rocket attacks on Russian-controlled areas in and around the city of Izium in eastern Ukraine during 2022 caused many casualties among Ukrainian civilians.

The group called on both Russia and Ukraine to stop using the weapons which on both sides are "killing civilians now and will continue to do so for many years," said Mary Wareham, acting arms director at HRW, in a statement to Newsweek.

U.S. officials have said that the cluster munitions would help Ukraine fight against mass formations of Russian troops and armored or broad targets, such as airfields. They would also allow Kyiv to concentrate their use of unitary warheads against higher-value Russian targets.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday that the decision was taken because Ukraine was running out of artillery and needed a "bridge of supplies" as the U.S. increases production.

However, the Arms Control Association said that the effectiveness of the weapons is "significantly oversold" and the dangers they posed civilians were why the U.S. Defense Department stopped using them in Afghanistan in 2002 and Iraq a year later.

"Some types of lethal U.S. and European military assistance to Ukraine, including cluster munitions, would be escalatory (and) counterproductive," Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said in a statement to Newsweek.

He added they would "only further increase the dangers to civilians caught in combat zones and those who will, someday, return to their cities, towns, and farms."

Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment.