A European country has offered to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, saying the controversial weapons – whose use by Russia has been criticized – could be useful on the battlefield, an official said on Wednesday .
The official from a European country, who did not want to be identified by name or nation of origin, said his government had approved the delivery and was seeking approval from Germany, which was involved in the ammunition production. Berlin has also just given the green light to send tanks to Ukraine, which insisted on them.
Cluster bombs (BASM) are made up of a container, like a shell, containing explosive projectiles, of smaller size, called “submunitions”. Very imprecise, they strike a huge proportion of civilians. Their use and transfer are prohibited by the Oslo Convention of 2008, signed by a large part of Western countries.