It’s estimated that about 20,000 people in Laos - half of them children - have been killed over the past 50 years by dormant explosives left over from cluster bombs dropped by the U.S. But the main danger comes from the fact that the individual bomblets don’t always explode when they reach the ground, meaning they pose fatal danger to anyone who may stumble upon them years or even decades into the future. That list doesn’t include the U.S., Russia or Ukraine, though the American military reportedly hasn’t used cluster weapons since the early stages of the war in Iraq in 2003.īecause they spread explosives over an area that can be as large as “ several football fields,” cluster bombs are far less precise than traditional single-warhead weapons, creating risk for any civilians who may be nearby. More than 100 countries have banned the use of cluster weapons because they carry a high risk of civilian casualties both during a conflict and long after the fighting has ended. “The main thing is, they either have the weapons to stop the Russians now … or they don’t.” he said.Ĭluster bombs or cluster munitions are a type of weapon that is designed to break apart in midair and a group of smaller “bomblets” then inflict broad damage on enemy targets over a wide area.
President Biden told CNN that he made the “difficult decision” to add cluster bombs to the stockpiles being sent to Ukraine over fears that the country’s munitions were running low after intense fighting to hold off invading Russian forces for nearly a year and a half.
The United States agreed last week to provide Ukraine with cluster bombs to aid its counteroffensive against Russia, despite concerns from human rights groups and American allies about collateral damage the controversial weapons may cause.
Illustration by Alex Cochran for Yahoo News photos: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty Images, Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images What’s happening
0 kommentar(er)
