The United States defended this Thursday that Ukraine is using the cluster bombs provided by Washington, to support the offensive of Ukrainian forces against Russia, in an “adequate and effective” manner.
“They are using it appropriately and effectively and are actually impacting Russian defensive formations and maneuvers,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a virtual news conference.
The Americans announced the deployment of cluster bombs on July 7, despite criticism from Germany and other countries, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Human Rights Watch (HWR), out of concern about the impact of this weaponry on the civilian population.
These bombs were included in a new military aid package, valued at 800 million dollars (about 719 million euros at current exchange rates), which also included, among other weapons, air defense missiles, Stinger anti-aircraft systems and ammunition for anti-aircraft weapons. Patriot. -aircraft systems.
On July 13, the Pentagon confirmed that these bombs were already on Ukrainian territory.
Kirby took the opportunity Thursday to reiterate the United States’ condemnation and concern over the Russian attacks on Odessa and other Ukrainian ports.
After finalizing the agreement for the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, Russia said this week that it will consider all ships bound for Ukrainian ports as potential weapons carriers and thus potential legitimate military targets.
On Wednesday night, Russia attacked Odessa for the third day in a row and the Mikolayiv region of southern Ukraine with cruise missiles and suicide drones that killed at least two civilians in both provinces and wounded 27 others.
Already in the attack on Tuesday morning, Russia destroyed infrastructure in the ports of Odessa and Chornomorsk – both part of the grain agreement – destroying 60,000 tons of food that should have been exported to China.
The spokesman for the National Security Council noted that Washington is following the situation “very closely” and warned of the possibility that Russia could use covert operations, with false flag ships, to justify the attacks and blame Ukraine for them.
Source: TSF
