Moscow, July 9, (dpa/GNA) - The Russian Foreign Ministry has sharply criticized the US for pledging to supply controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite the Russian military’s repeated use of the weapons during the ongoing invasion of the country.
NATO allies Spain and the United Kingdom have distanced themselves from the US plan, while Russia has even talked of the move increasing the chance of nuclear war.
The US decision is another “blatant revelation of the aggressive anti-Russian course of the United States, aimed at the maximum prolongation of the conflict in Ukraine,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Saturday.
The cluster munitions were bound to kill even more civilians, she said.
The ministry said the announcement by the US that it would provide Ukraine with the controversial weapons was a sign of desperation on the part of the US, and showed that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was failing. Russian forces have used the munitions throughout the course of the invasion, which entered its 500th day on Saturday.
Kiev has been asking for cluster munitions for some time to fend off Russia’s invasion.
Zakharova dismissed as worthless Kiev’s promise to only use the munitions against military targets.
“Washington, by supplying cluster munitions, becomes an accessory to the mining of territories and thus also fully shares responsibility for blasts, including of Russian and Ukrainian children,” the spokeswoman continued.
Cluster munitions are missiles and bombs that burst in the air over the target, scattering or releasing many small explosive devices known as submunitions.
A significant percentage of the explosive devices are often duds that do not detonate but remain on site as dangerous unexploded ordnance. Critics note that unexploded bombs can pose a deadly hazard to civilians for years after a conflict has ended.
The US has said that recent testing shows they have lowered the number of duds.
Meanwhile, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said that supplying Ukraine with cluster munitions risked provoking a nuclear war in belligerent comments posted to Telegram on Saturday.
“Perhaps the sickly fantasizing dying grandfather simply decided to step down nicely, provoke a nuclear Armageddon and take half of humanity with him,” wrote Medvedev, who is now the deputy chief of the Russian National Security Council, referring to US President Joe Biden.
He said the delivery of cluster munitions and the promise of NATO membership to Ukraine show that Biden has used up all other resources. But those steps risk starting a World War III, Medvedev threatened.
The Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, had previously warned that a world war was approaching due to the ever-deepening involvement of the United States in the conflict.
Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012, was once seen as a relative liberal in Russian politics but has distinguished himself as a pro-war hardliner since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February last year.
NATO member Spain said it would not support the supply of cluster munitions by the US to Ukraine.
“Spain stands firm on the commitments it has made to Ukraine, but also on the fact that certain weapons and bombs must not be supplied under any circumstances,” said Defence Minister Margarita Robles in Madrid on Saturday.
It was a sovereign decision of the US, but not of NATO, Robles stressed. Spain believes that such weapons should not be used even in a “legitimate defence,” she said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also said he would not support the use of cluster munitions, stressing that the UK was one of 123 countries that had signed a convention banning their use.
“The UK is a signatory to a convention which prohibits the production or use of cluster munitions,” Sunak told British media.
He said Britain would “continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion” with other weapons, including heavy battle tanks.
GNA