The widely banned munition is wreaking havoc on Russian infantry, but concerns about unexploded ordnance remain.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/5026301

Full article: https://imgur.com/a/JVKx6Rn

Selected excerpt:

The cluster munitions the Biden administration is sending to Ukraine are much older, and pose an even greater threat to civilians. The bomb is called the dual-purpose improved conventional munition, or DPICM, and production of it ended in the 1990s. The longer the munition stays in storage, the higher the “dud rate” — the share of bomblets that remain unexploded after a cluster bomb is fired. Biden’s decision to send the munitions — a choice he described as “difficult” — bypassed a U.S. law prohibiting the transfer of cluster munitions with a dud rate of more than 1 percent.

  • ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶English
    31·
    1 year ago

    While I can agree on some points, I would say it is not ‘their choice,’ it’s their government’s choice. I’m sure there are or will be plenty of Ukrainians who are very much not in favour of this after they lose a limb or a child. It’s a shitty situation so I’m not sure I could blame their government. But I feel for the civilians.

    • Tedesche@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      I feel for their civilians too, but it’s still a very big difference between the Russians planting bombs on their land and their own government. Their own government was theoretically elected by them, meaning they represent them. If said populace is unhappy with how their government wages this war, they are free to hold them to task. Yes, there are still issues to address there, but it’s not the same thing.