Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his army has a “good stock” of cluster bombs and is threatening to use them in Ukraine if Kiev uses the US-supplied weapons.
Washington announced on the 7th that it will supply the Ukrainian army with cluster munitions, which are controversial because the charges they disperse can cause many collateral civilian casualties.
“In Russia there is a good stock of cluster munitions, of different types,” Putin stressed in an interview with the public television channel “Rossia-1” broadcast this Sunday and quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“So far we have not used them, we did not need them, although at one point we had a known shortage of ammunition,” Putin said. “But if they are used against us, we reserve the right to retaliate,” the Russian president added.
Putin recalled in the interview that “the use of cluster bombs was described as a crime by the US administration itself.
“I think this is how it should be treated,” said the Russian head of state.
On Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergueï Choïgou had already declared that “if the United States supplies Ukraine with fragmentation weapons, the Russian armed forces will be forced to use similar means of destruction.”
Ukrainian soldiers have already accused the Russian army of using these controversial munitions since the beginning of the conflict.
According to Putin, the United States announced the delivery of these weapons, because it has a “shortage of ammunition” to offer Kiev.
“The Ukrainian military uses up to 5,000-6,000 155mm rounds a day in combat. But the US produces 15,000 a month. They don’t have enough and neither does Europe. They have nothing better to offer than fragmentation ammunition.” Putin said.
These weapons are banned in many countries, mainly in Europe, which are signatories to the 2008 Oslo Convention, to which the United States, Ukraine and Russia are not party.
Source: TSF
