Ukraine seeks US cluster bombs for drones

This is reported by Reuters.

Ukraine wants to use cluster bombs to drop them from drones on Russian forces, according to two US lawmakers.

They claim that Ukrainian officials urged US lawmakers to lobby the White House for MK-20 bombs at last month's Munich Security Conference. Bombs were requested with 155-millimeter artillery shells.

Lawmakers added that Ukraine considers cluster munitions as a way to stop the "human waves" tactic that Russia has been actively using in recent months to storm the east, primarily Bakhmut.

In particular, as Smith said, the Ukrainian military believes that the MK-20 "has better armor-piercing capabilities" than the weapons they currently drop from drones.

The MK-20s, which are normally delivered by an aircraft, open in mid-flight, releasing more than 240 dart-like submunitions. The United States stopped producing bombs in 2016, but there are more than one million of them in storage.

Although there is some support for Ukraine's request in the US Congress, according to Reuters, President Joe Biden's administration is strongly opposed, as cluster munitions are banned by a 2008 international treaty as being able to disproportionately affect civilians.

At the same time, some people interviewed by the agency agree that this could solve the problem of an artillery ammunition shortage in Ukraine, where Russia still maintains a significant advantage.

• On December 8, Western mass media reported that the USA was considering Ukraine's requests for the transfer of cluster munitions.

• On January 11, the Ukrainian ambassador in Ankara, Vasyl Bodnar, denied the statement that Turkey allegedly supplies Ukraine with cluster munitions, calling such information gossip.