155mm Base Burn Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) roundsl at Camp Hovey, South Korea. 20 September 2016. File photo: US Army, via PBS
“We just got them, we haven’t used them yet, but they can radically change [the battlefield],” Brigadier-General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of the Tavria Group of Forces, told CNN. “The enemy also understands that with getting this ammunition, we will have an advantage,” he added.
A week earlier, the White House announced its decision to supply Ukraine with cluster shells. The arrival of the American clusters has not been previously reported, CNN says.
Talking about US restrictions on employing cluster munitions, Tarnavskyi said their utilization is prohibited in heavily populated areas, even if occupied by Russian forces.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that the supply of clusters is “temporary,” and the decision was made due to Ukraine’s low supply of standard artillery rounds.
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Tags: cluster munitions