WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

US expected to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine

Human Rights Watch has called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster bombs, and urged the US not to supply the munitions to Kyiv, amid reports the Biden administration is poised to include the controversial weapons in a new military aid package.

Russian and Ukraine forces have used cluster bombs, which break apart in the air and release large numbers of smaller bomblets across a wide area.

The bomblets are designed to detonate on hitting the ground, but do not always explode, posing a risk to civilians for years afterwards. The weapons, first used in the second world war, were banned by more than 120 nations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008. Russia, Ukraine and the US have all declined to sign the treaty.

Kyiv has urged members of the US Congress to press the White House to approve sending over cluster bombs. US officials say cluster bombs would be effective for Ukraine against Russian forces in strong defensive positions.

The White House said on Thursday that providing cluster munitions to Ukraine is under “active consideration”, and US officials told Reuters that the administration is expected to announce the new weapons aid package that will include these weapons on Friday.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have used cluster munitions that caused numerous civilian deaths and serious injuries, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday, calling on both sides to immediately stop using the “inherently indiscriminate” weapons.

US officials have claimed that any munitions provided to Ukraine would have a reduced “dud rate”, meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds that could later result in unintended civilian deaths.

Ukraine fired cluster munition rockets into Russian-controlled areas in and near the eastern Ukrainian city of Izium last year, causing many casualties among Ukrainian civilians, the rights group said, citing interviews with more than 100 residents, witnesses and local emergency personnel. The Ukrainian attacks killed at least eight civilians and wounded at least 15 civilians in Izium, it said.

The group has previously reported that Russia’s use of cluster bombs in Ukraine resulted in the deaths of scores of civilians, and the United Nations human rights council has also documented the use of such bombs by both sides.

“Cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine are killing civilians now and will continue to do so for many years,” said Mary Wareham, acting arms director at Human Rights Watch. “Both sides should immediately stop using them and not try to get more of these indiscriminate weapons.”

Transferring cluster bombs to Ukraine would inevitably cause long-term suffering for civilians, the group said. It warned that the use of cluster munitions in areas with civilians makes an attack indiscriminate in violation of international humanitarian law, and possibly a war crime.

** Russia and Ukraine announce prisoner exchange

Russia and Ukraine announced a prisoner of war exchange on Thursday involving the return of 45 soldiers from each side.

Russia's defence ministry said that 45 Russian servicemen had been returned from Ukrainian custody, the Russian news agency RIA reported.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential staff, said 45 service personnel and two civilians had been returned to Ukraine.

In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Yermak said some of those freed had fought in Mariupol and the southern city's Azovstal steel plant, and others had fought on the frontline elsewhere.

"Each of them is a hero," Yermak said.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said most of those freed were "seriously injured" and all would undergo rehabilitation.

In a separate post, Yermak said that two children aged six and 10 had been allowed to return to Ukraine following the release of their mother, a military medic, last October.

Russia and Ukraine have periodically exchanged groups of prisoners in the course of the war, now in its 17th month.

Lubinets said that 2,576 Ukrainians have been freed in prisoner swaps since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

NATO, led by the US, plans, manages Ukraine’s military action against Russia — official

NATO, led by the US, coordinates Kiev’s military operations against the Russian Army, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said Thursday.

"Neo-Nazis grabbed power in Ukraine after the bloody coup, organized by the US and its satellites. Pursuing their selfish goals, the US carries out an undeclared war against Russia, using territory and population of Ukraine," he said during a meeting on national security in the Southern Federal District Thursday.

"Today, NATO states, led by the US, continue to fund the terrorist regime in Ukraine, pump it with weapons, provide intelligence, train Ukrainian troops, plan and coordinate military operations against the Russian Army," the official stated.

** Wagner PMC founder Prigozhin currently in Russia, not in Belarus, Lukashenko confirms

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is currently not in Belarus, but rather is located in Russia while his fighters are quartered at their permanent base camps.

"As far as I’ve been informed, as of this morning, the fighters are at their permanent base camps where they have been located since withdrawing from the frontline for rest and recuperation. After Bakhmut (Artyomovsk in Russian - TASS), they withdrew to their camp. That’s where they are located. As for Evgeny Prigozhin, he is in St. Petersburg. Maybe he went to Moscow, but he is not on Belarusian soil," he said at a meeting with representatives of foreign and Belarusian media outlets.

Lukashenko also said that Prigozhin was not imprisoned. "We talked several times over the phone. I think, yesterday, we had a phone conversation in the afternoon. We discussed the PMC’s further actions," he said, adding that the PMC chief told him that the Wagner fighters will "work toward Russia’s well-being in the future and perform their duty until the end." The Belarusian president said that he had made arrangements to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future to discuss the situation around Prigozhin.

No risks

According to Lukashenko, the relocation of Wagner fighters to Belarus "will depend on the decision made by the Wagner PMC and Russia’s leadership." "If they deem it necessary to deploy a certain number of fighters in Belarus to rest or train, I will carry out my decision," he said.

The Belarusian leader stressed that he did not see any risk in deploying the PMC on Belarusian soil. "I do not think that Wagner would rebel somewhere and turn their weapons against the Belarusian leadership and government. I do not see such a situation today. <...> I absolutely see no risks from deploying the Wagner PMC <...>," the president noted.

"If it becomes necessary to engage them, we will engage them immediately," he said.

In his opinion, Wagner PMC’s fighters and commanders could share their expertise with the Belarusian armed forces. "I mean the military expertise they’ve accumulated," he specified.

If they are deployed in the country, Belarus will conclude a contract with them, Lukashenko added. "If the Wagner PMC is here, they will protect our interests. When they make a decision to be stationed here, a contract will be concluded with them, legal liability, where everything will be spelled out. Then restrictions, limitations will be determined at the level of the law [or a] presidential decree," he explained.

Lukashenko noted that Minsk offered some mothballed Belarusian military bases as housing for the Wagner group but the PMC had its own opinion on this issue and it has not yet been decided.

Position reinforced

Replying to questions about the situation in Russia during Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny on June 23-24, Lukashenko said that, in his opinion, the situation did not weaken Putin’s position. "Don’t even hold your breath for it. There was no vacillation, no weakening; Putin was fully engaged in carrying out his duties," he said.

According to Lukashenko, the situation around the Wagner PMC served to bolster ties between Belarus and Russia.

He also said that, during the mutiny attempt, several aircraft were ready to deploy Belarusian troops to defend Moscow. "The first five or seven planes, I don’t remember anymore, it’s a known fact, landed in Belarus to redeploy a Belarusian special forces brigade near Moscow," he said, adding that in the end, they "did not go anywhere but they were on full combat alert."

Lukashenko did not hold any consultations with other countries over the mutiny. "I knew what to say myself, without any consultations," he said. He noted that he had not interacted with China either and "had it taken place, it would have been with one person only, with [Chinese President] Xi Jinping." "We did not talk and such a conversation was hardly possible even if I had wanted to [have it]," the Belarusian leader added.

The Guardian/Reuters/Tass