“It’s unconscionable that civilians are still dying and being wounded from cluster munitions 15 years after these weapons were prohibited,” Mary Wareham from Human Rights Watch told a Geneva press conference.
In Ukraine, the report said Russia had used cluster munitions “repeatedly”, while Ukraine had also used them, but to “a lesser extent”. It did not provide a breakdown. There was no immediate response from Kyiv or Moscow to the report.
The report covered last year, and therefore excludes this year’s use by Ukraine of US cluster munitions, which Kyiv began receiving in July. Kyiv says it is using them only against Russian troops at the front line. Russia has denied using them at all but has threatened to do so in response.
Unlike in past years where casualties have nearly always been caused by the delayed explosion of bomb remnants, most of the 2022 casualties were from live bombs, the report said.
Both Moscow and Kyiv deny targeting civilians in the war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022, during which Russian forces have razed several Ukrainian cities to the ground.
In deciding to send cluster munitions to Ukraine this year, Washington said they have legitimate uses on the battlefield against military targets, and would save lives if they hastened the end of the war. It also said its cluster munitions leave behind far fewer unexploded bomblets than those used by Russia.
