If the United States does not provide Ukraine with controversial cluster munitions, Ukraine will find itself "defenseless" in the future, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

The U.S.'s munitions stockpile has been dramatically reduced due to the war in Ukraine, and with Kyiv using so much weaponry, Blinken argued, there would eventually be nothing left to give the Ukrainians unless cluster munitions are utilized. The Pentagon has hundreds of thousands available to provide immediately.

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“The stockpiles around the world and in Ukraine of the unitary munitions, not the cluster munitions, were running out, about to be depleted,” Blinken said in an interview with MSNBC. “And so, the hard but necessary choice to give them the cluster munitions amounted to this: If we didn’t do it, we don’t do it, then they will run out of ammunition. If they run out of ammunition, then they will be defenseless.”

More than 120 states are a part of the Convention of Cluster Munitions, which was formed in 2010 and prohibits the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions, including all but eight members of the NATO alliance. The U.S., Ukraine, and Russia are not a part of the treaty, while a number of leaders from NATO countries have said they would remain in compliance with it, despite President Joe Biden's decision to send the weapons to Kyiv.

Cluster munitions contain dozens of smaller bombs that spread out over a wide area. Their range, combined with the bombs' relatively high rate of failure, means that cluster munitions can create minefields of unexploded submunitions that pose a risk to civilians for years after their intended detonation.

“Every ally I’ve talked to has said they understand why we’re doing this when we’re doing it,” Blinken said.

U.S. officials said Russia is already using cluster munitions in its invasion, meaning much of Ukraine will have to be de-mined anyway. The U.S. has already provided Ukraine with $95 million for de-mining activities.

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"The Russians have already saturated Ukraine with cluster munitions. And there’s a big difference between what the Russians have done in Ukraine using these cluster munitions against the Ukrainian people, as opposed to the Ukrainian government, which, in defense of its country, in defense of its own people, needs these weapons to make sure that it can resist the Russian aggression and take back its territory," Blinken said in an interview with NBC. "They’re going to be very focused on where they use them, making sure, of course, they’re not targeting their own civilians. And we’re all deeply committed to cleaning up the country once the Russian aggression ends, something that we have to do anyway given the use of these munitions by Russia over the last two years."

Ukrainian leaders provided the U.S. with written assurances that “they will not use the rounds in civilian populated urban environments and that they will record where they use these rounds,” Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters last week.