The Pentagon announced on Wednesday a new $375 million arms package for Ukraine that includes cluster bombs, HIMARS ammunition, artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons, and other military equipment.
US officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the package will include an undisclosed number of medium-range air-to-ground cluster bombs. The Pentagon listed the weapons as “air-to-ground munitions.”
Cluster bombs are banned by over 100 countries due to their indiscriminate nature, but the US has been pouring them into Ukraine since last year. The US has sent 155mm artillery shells packed with cluster bombs, a cluster variant of ATACM missiles, and now a form of the widely-banned bomb that can be fired by Ukrainian fighter jets.
Cluster bombs scatter small submunitions over large areas, making them especially hazardous for civilians. Submunitions that don’t explode immediately on impact can kill or maim civilians for decades to come, as they have in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, where the US dropped hundreds of millions of bomblets during the Vietnam War.
According to a Pentagon press release, the full $375 million arms package includes:
- Air-to-ground munitions
- Ammunition for HIMARS
- 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition
- Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) missiles
- Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems
- M1117 Armored Security Vehicles
- Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles
- Light tactical vehicles
- Armored bridging systems
- Small arms
- Patrol boats
- Demolitions equipment and munitions
- Spare parts, ancillary equipment, services, training, and transportation
The package is being provided through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the US to ship weapons straight from US military stockpiles. The Pentagon also released a fact sheet that said the US has committed $56.3 billion in weapons and other military equipment to Ukraine since the Russian invasion was launched in February 2022.
