Russian DM Calls U.S. Decision to Supply Ukraine With Cluster Bombs “War Crime”

FILE - Activists and international delegations stand next to cluster bomb units, during a visit to a Lebanese military base at the opening of the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, in the southern town of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, Sept. 12, 2011. The Biden administration has decided to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine and is expected to announce on Friday, July 6, 2023, that the Pentagon will send thousands as part of the latest military aid package for the war effort against Russia, according to people familiar with the decision. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
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Washington has committed a war crime by supplying cluster munitions to Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday.

“Given the growing shortage of ammunition for Western-manufactured artillery systems within the Armed forces of Ukraine, Washington has committed a war crime by including cluster munitions,” Shoigu said at a defense ministry board meeting, as reported on the ministry’s website.

The minister recalled that Britain had transferred Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine in May, and that NATO countries were actively considering whether to supply Kiev with F-16 fighter jets.

He pointed out that the United States is further escalating the conflict by “seeking deliveries of increasingly long-range and deadly weapons” from its allies.