Moscow will use its stockpile if Ukraine deploys the widely-banned munitions first, Putin said.

President Vladimir Putin said Russia had a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster bombs and reserved the right to use them if such munitions, the use of which he said he regarded as a crime, were deployed against Russian forces in Ukraine.

Ukraine said on Thursday it had received cluster bombs from the United States

    • Gramatikal@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I was gonna say. I distinctly remember that the only reason cluster munitions were sent was in response to Russian ones targeting civilians.

      • mea_rah@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        They were using cluster munition from very beginning. There were videos of cluster munition being used in cities with civilians. In the infamous Kramatorsk railway station attack russia used cluster munition for example. Which is what makes putin’s statement quite misleading. It’s effectively lying by omission.

      • vimdiesel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        01·
        1 year ago

        That’s incorrect. It’s because conventional ammunition is running low AND they hope the cluster bombs will help to break the Russian lines/trenches.