Four Republican members of the US Congress have called on President Joe Biden to supply Ukraine with Cold War-era cluster munitions. In their remarks, they expressed their “deep disappointment” at the White House’s reluctance to provide Ukraine with the “necessary types and quantities” of long-range weapons to create operational breakthroughs against the Russians.
According to the lawmakers, this state of affairs “is displayed on the battlefield of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and other places” in Ukraine.
We are talking about DPICM optimized dual-purpose conventional ammunition.
They use explosive and fragmentation penetrators. Cluster munitions are considered double action weapons. This category also includes air-to-surface cluster bombs, which are banned in most countries.
Some varieties of these projectiles act like mines: they have limited mobility and are slow to react. Currently, the US arsenal has about 3 million DPICM ammunition. The Pentagon would use them during the Cold War years to stop the potential Soviet tank offensive in Europe in the event of an open military conflict.
It is known that Turkey has been supplying such ammunition to the Ukrainian Armed Forces since November last year.
Photos used: AOAV/flickr.com
