Its president Ukrainian, Volodymyr Zelenskyin his night sermon he referred extensively to the discussion he had with his counterpart USA, Joe Bidenwho visited Kiev yesterday Monday (20/2).
The Ukrainian leader spoke about the criticality of the situation and the stake. “Now to Ukraine the future of the order of things for the whole world is being judged. Which is based on laws, humanity, stability”initially emphasized and continued: “President Biden and I discussed in detail what we need to do to ensure our joint victory this year in the war that Russia has started.”.
“The steps to be taken are known. The needs we have to strengthen our defense are well known. The actions to be taken are also known to our partners and they start with us and our warriors on the front line. What is needed above all is determination”Zelensky added and underlined: “I saw that determination in President Biden and in the US. We are true allies with the US and this union makes the world stronger.”.
“Kiev has been asking for cluster munitions since last year”
Ukraine’s government asked its Western partners to supply it with cluster munitions last year, sources close to NATO member countries confirmed to the German Agency on Monday (20/2).
The US government has discussed with allies the request to send these highly controversial munitions, according to the same sources, but so far no decision has apparently been made.
Some 24 hours earlier Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, asked Western leaders for cluster munitions and phosphorus incendiary munitions for his country’s armed forces at the Munich Security Conference.
However, there are reservations about this in countries such as Germany, which have signed the international convention on the prohibition of cluster munitions.
Which means that Berlin has no intention of allowing Estonia to supply the Ukrainian army with German-made cluster munitions.
Estonian media reported that Tallinn is weighing whether to deliver cluster munitions to the Ukrainian military. “Estonian warehouses contain thousands of such munitions and the Ukrainians are asking for them from Estonia,” according to the publication.
“Any re-export requests should be weighed against (Germany’s) obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions and Article 18a of the Arms Control Act”, however, a representative of Germany’s Ministry of Economy pointed out to the German Agency. These two texts entail a “prohibition of the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention and transfer of cluster munitions”.
Cluster munitions consist of the carrier (bomb, shell) and so-called “sub-munitions”, which are dispersed over a large area. By their nature, anything but precision weapons are responsible for countless civilian deaths.
The use of ammunition of these two types is controversial to say the least. Cluster munitions are theoretically banned under the Oslo Convention (2008), which neither Ukraine nor Russia have signed. Phosphorus munitions cause horrific burns to the people they hit.
Source: News Beast
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