The Russian President Vladimir Putin has affirmed on Sunday that they are armed with a “bonne reserve” of arms for sous-munitions, menacing the employer on the front in Ukraine if Kiev uses that type of armament free for them USA.
Washington has announced the upcoming delivery to the Ukrainian army of these weapons, the use of which is highly controversial, because the charges they disperse can cause many collateral civilian casualties.
Possible “retaliatory measures”?
“In Russia there is a good stock of cluster munitions, of different types,” Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the Rossia-1 public television channel, broadcast this Sunday.
“So far, we haven’t used them, we didn’t need them, even though we had a known ammunition shortage at one point,” Vladimir Putin continued.
“But if they are used against us, we reserve the right to retaliate,” the Russian president added.
A first threat from Shoigu
On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had already stated that “if the United States supplies Ukraine with cluster munitions, the Russian armed forces will be forced to use similar means of destruction.”
Ukrainian soldiers have already accused the Russian army since the beginning of the conflict of using this controversial ammunition.
According to Vladimir Putin, the United States has announced that it will hand over these weapons because it has “shortage of ammunition” to offer Kiev.
“The Ukrainian army uses up to 5,000 or 6,000 155mm shells per day of combat. But the United States produces 15,000 a month, it is not enough for them, and Europe is not enough for them either. They have nothing better to offer than to use cluster munitions,” the Russian head of state said.
These weapons are prohibited in a number of countries, especially European ones, signatories to the 2008 Oslo Convention, to which the United States, Ukraine, and Russia are not parties.
Source: BFM TV
