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| Ukraine Requests US MK-20 Prohibited Cluster Bombs to Kill Russian Soldiers |
According to American legislators, the Ukrainian military wants to drop international-banned bombs from drones on targets of Moscow troops. Kiev has been urging members of Congress to pressure the White House to approve the arms shipment. It is not yet known whether the Joe Biden administration will accede to the controversial weapons request.
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Cluster bombs, banned by more than 120 countries, typically release large numbers of small bombs that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. The use of these weapons also threatens the lives of civilians.
Two US lawmakers, Jason Crow and Adam Smith, who serve on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said Ukraine was looking for the MK-20, an air-delivered cluster bomb to release its individual explosives from drones.
According to them, it was an additional request after the 155 mm artillery cluster shells that had previously been requested by Kiev. They say Ukrainian officials urged US legislators at last month's Munich Security Conference to put pressure on the White House. Meanwhile, fierce fighting between the Moscow and Kiev troops was still going on in the city of Bakhmut.
Washington had been nervous that the city's fall to Moscow would not give Russia any momentum in the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office said the president had discussed the situation in the town of Bakhmut with the chief of the General Staff and the commander of the ground forces.
"The two have spoken to continue defensive operations and further strengthen positions in Bakhmut," the office said. Volodymyr Nazarenko, a Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut, said there had been no orders to withdraw and the defenders were holding out despite what he called "hell".