Ukrainian general says cluster bombs could ‘radically change the battlefield’

Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said cluster munitions being provided by the United States could “radically change the battlefield,” in an interview that aired Thursday on CNN.  

“We just got them. We haven’t used them yet,” Tarnavski said, via a translator, to CNN’s Alex Marquardt. “But they can radically change the battlefield.”

“The enemy also understands that with getting this ammunition, we will have an advantage,” Tarnavskyi added.

The Pentagon confirmed cluster munitions arrived in Ukraine on Thursday.

President Biden said the decision to send Ukraine the controversial weapons was difficult but necessary to help Kyiv in its crucial counteroffensive against Russian troops.

Tarnavskyi admitted the operation has not been quite as successful as they would have hoped, and artillery munitions are now running low.

“The counteroffensive is successful, but not as much as each of us would like,” Tarnavskyi said in the interview. “They made very dense, complex minefields, which are now located in the areas where Ukrainian equipment and personnel will go through.”

Cluster munitions are banned in more than 100 countries — though not in the U.S., Russia or Ukraine. Bomblets in the weapons spread out and explode over a wide area, making them effective at targeting a large group of enemy soldiers, but also a threat to civilians.

Biden has faced pushback from lawmakers from both parties and from human rights activists, who oppose the usage of the bombs because of the risk they say it poses to civilians during and long after wars, as unexploded bombs can remain in the ground for years.  

Tarnavskyi, according to CNN, said Ukraine hopes Russians will abandon areas where the cluster munitions are most effective. He also reiterated the promise that the bombs would only be used away from civilians and with the approval of senior leadership