German President: Berlin should not prevent US from supplying cluster munitions to Kyiv

Germany should not stand in the way of the United States in the issue of deliveries of cluster munitions to Ukraine. Such a statement did German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in an interview with ZDF.

“In the current situation, [правительство Германии] cannot stand in the way of the US,” he said, commenting on the US decision to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine.

At the same time, Steinmeier noted that this type of weapons in Germany is prohibited by the federal government, and stressed that the FRG is opposed to deliveries. The German President recalled that he had signed the Convention on the Ban on Cluster Bombs in 2008 in Oslo, being the German Foreign Minister. According to him, he was “biased” in these debates.

On July 7, National Security Adviser to the President of the United States Jake Sullivan during a briefing informedthat Washington will send cluster munitions to Kyiv. He acknowledged that the use of cluster munitions posed a threat to the lives of civilians, but, Sullivan said, Ukraine provided the United States with written assurances that the munitions would be used “with care” to avoid civilian casualties.

On the same day the Pentagon announced about the allocation of a new package of military assistance to Kyiv for $800 million. It will include artillery shells of 155 mm caliber, including cluster munitions.

Cluster munitions are banned in over 100 countries. A number of states, including Russia, China, Ukraine and the United States, have not signed the convention on cluster munitions. The ratifiers of the international treaty pledged “never and under no circumstances” to use cluster munitions, not to manufacture or acquire them, and not to stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly.