U.S.-Supplied Cluster Munitions Now in Ukraine

July 14, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—The Pentagon confirmed yesterday that U.S.-supplied cluster munitions have already arrived in Ukraine. “[T]here are cluster munitions in Ukraine at this time,” said Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, the director of operations (J3) for the Joint Staff, during a Pentagon joint press briefing with press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. In response to a followup question, Sims clarified that he was referring not only to U.S.-supplied cluster munitions but also “some provided by a third country before....” He did not name that third country.

Earlier, a Ukrainian general confirmed receiving the U.S. cluster munitions. “We just got them, we haven’t used them yet, but they can radically change [the battlefield],” Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Tavria Joint Forces Operation, told CNN in an interview. “The enemy also understands that with getting this ammunition, we will have an advantage. The enemy will give up that part of the terrain where it is possible to use this,” he claimed, obviously ignoring the fact that, so far, any advantage Ukrainian forces may have had, has been fleeting at best.