The U.S. will send cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package following months of debate.
"I'm not going to stand up here and say it is easy," Sullivan told reporters. "It's a difficult decision. It's a decision we deferred. It's a decision that required a real hard look at the potential harm to civilians.
The munitions will be compatible with the U.S.-provided 155 mm howitzers, a key piece of artillery that has allowed Ukraine to win back territory over the past year, according to the Pentagon. In a statement announcing a new round of aid to Ukraine, the Defense Department said the U.S. will be providing "155mm artillery rounds, including DPICM," or Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions — the type of cluster munition the U.S. currently has in its stockpiles.
Biden will overrule statutory restrictions imposed by Congress on exporting munitions with a greater than 1% "dud" rate — the munitions the U.S. is set to provide may have a dud rate of up to 2.35%, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said Thursday.
But changing battlefield conditions inside Ukraine over the past three weeks prompted U.S. officials to give them renewed and serious consideration, and the Pentagon recommended to Biden that the munitions be provided to Ukraine at least on a temporary basis until non-cluster ammunition is able to be resupplied, officials said.
"During the testing, a sample set from each lot in the test group is fired and the number of unexploded bomblets is assessed and recorded," the official said. "That data is then compiled to develop the report, which includes dud rates."
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