The US administration said that it had received ‘written assurances’ from Ukraine that it would use cluster bombs carefully. Nonetheless, the munition will provide an additional risk to civilians.
  • HanlonsButterknife@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    From your linked pdf:

    Ukraine is the only country in the world where cluster munitions are being used as of August 2022.

    • Russia has used cluster munitions extensively since invading Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

    • Ukrainian forces appear to have used them at least three times during the conflict.

    • There were no reports of new cluster munition use in any other country during the reporting period (from August 2021 to July 2022).

    149 cluster munitions casualties recorded in 2021; a 59% decrease from 2020 total (360).

    • Civilians accounted for 97% of all casualties.

    • Children accounted for 66% of all casualties where the age was known.

    • 2021 was the first year in a decade that there were no new casualties resulting from cluster munition attacks.

    • Cluster munition remnant casualties recorded in: Azerbaijan | Iraq | Lao PDR | Lebanon | Mauritania | Nagorno-Karabakh Sudan | Syria | Tajikistan | Western Sahara |Yemen

    • Preliminary data indicates at least 689 civilian casualties during cluster munition attacks in Ukraine during the first half of 2022.

    So to summarize:

    1. Nearly every cluster bomb being used worldwide is being used by Russians in Ukraine
    2. Nearly every cluster bomb casualty is a civilian

    Considering that Russia has an extremely well-documented history of specifically targeting civilians, regardless of munitions type, this seems like more of a Russia problem than a cluster bomb problem (at least to the point that it renders these specific statistics moot in a discussion about the general risks of cluster munitions, when used by militaries that are not as barbarous and murderous as the Russian military)