Ukraine receives cluster munitions, grain deal in doubt

| July 14, 2023

Ukraine has received cluster munitions, its military says, less than a week after the United States announced it would transfer the widely-banned weapons to Ukrainian forces.

Valeryi Shershen, a spokesman for the Tavria military command in southern Ukraine, confirmed a CNN report the Tavria forces had just received cluster munitions but had not used them yet.

Cluster munitions are “in the hands of our defence forces,” Shershen told Ukrainian television but gave few details.

The US announced on July 7 that it would send Ukraine cluster munitions as part of an $US800-million ($A1.2-billion) security package intended to ensure Russian forces that invaded Ukraine nearly 17 months ago cannot halt a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Cluster munitions are prohibited by more than 100 countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia. 

They typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. 

Those that fail to explode pose a danger for decades.

Ukraine has said it will use cluster bombs only to “de-occupy” its territory and that it will not use them in urban areas. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated Ukraine’s assurances during a NATO summit on Wednesday.

Russia, Ukraine and the US have not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans production, stockpiling, use and transfer of the weapons.

The decision to send the munitions to Ukraine has also been opposed by Spain and Canada. 

The Russian embassy in the US has condemned the decision.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia was set to withdraw from a deal allowing the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea unless its own demands are met, reaffirming a tough stance ahead of the deal’s expiry on Monday.

Putin, in comments to Russian state television, also said the United Nations had so far failed to come up with a satisfactory solution to the issue and he denied having received any letter containing proposals from the UN Secretary General.

“We can suspend our participation in the deal, and if everyone once again says that all the promises made to us will be fulfilled, then let them fulfil this promise. We will immediately rejoin this deal,” Putin said.

A Kremlin spokesman later clarified that Russia had not taken a final decision on whether to exit the grain deal.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help alleviate a global food crisis that worsened after Russian forces invaded Ukraine and blockaded Ukrainian ports.

To convince Putin to agree to the deal, UN officials also agreed to help Russia get its food and fertiliser exports to foreign markets – something Russia says they have failed to do.

While Russian exports of food and fertiliser are not subject to foreign sanctions imposed over Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, it says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.

Sources told Reuters that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had written to Putin suggesting that Russia allow the deal to continue for several months to give the European Union time to connect a subsidiary of the Russian Agriculture Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the international payment network SWIFT.

Putin said on Thursday he had not received any such message.