INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
has decided to deliver cluster bombs to Ukraine.As the Ukraine war passes its 500th day, Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the Security
official has accused the U.S.-led NATO of training the Ukrainian army, providing intelligence support for Kyiv and pumping tens of billions
of dollars worth of weapons for the Ukrainian military to fight Russian forces."Neo-Nazis grabbed power in Ukraine after the bloody coup,
Pursuing their selfish goals, the U.S
carries out an undeclared war against Russia, using territory and population of Ukraine," Patrushev told a meeting on national security in
the Southern Federal District, TASS reported."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 security
official added.President Volodymyr Zelensky has, once again, appealed to NATO leaders to finally take concrete steps towards Ukrainian
membership at an upcoming summit of NATO in Lithuania.Ukraine wants to join as quickly as possible, but divisions have emerged among NATO
members over how fast and whether that decision should even be taken
erupted in February last year
[with NATO]".The White House has acknowledged that Ukraine's proposed entrance into NATO will be discussed but not decided at the Western
forces, despite days of international outrage at the expected shipment.President Joe Biden has defended his decision to give Ukraine cluster
bombs.The news triggered alarm among human rights groups and international organizations
Cluster munitions pose an indiscriminate and immediate threat to civilians during conflict by randomly scattering sub munitions or bomblets
As a result, cluster bombs, like landmines, pose a serious risk to civilians long after their use
Unexploded ordnance from cluster bombs can especially kill and maim children who confuse them for toys, years or even decades after the
munitions were fired.Israel has been widely condemned for using cluster munitions against the Palestinians, decades ago, whose effects are
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
And when we put all of that together, there was a unanimous recommendation from the national security team and President Biden ultimately
NATO allies such as Germany, Britain and Spain have opposed the move
The British prime minister suggested the country "discourages" the use of cluster bombs.Organizations such as Human Rights Watch had urged
not to supply them to the warzone.More than 120 countries have signed a convention banning cluster bombs
A 2009 law also bans the exports of U.S
cluster munitions with bomblet failure rates higher than 1%, which covers virtually all of the U.S
Munitions, which, as you know, was adopted 15 years ago
And he wants countries to abide by the terms of that convention
prohibitions around the munitions as Trump did in January 2021 to allow the export of cluster munitions technology to South Korea.A Pentagon
worth $800 million.The U.S
military claims cluster munitions would be useful, in its counter-offensive, for Ukraine despite congressional opposition and concerns among
as Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker armored personnel carriers, officials said.The package will be funded using the Presidential
Drawdown Authority, which authorizes Biden to transfer articles and services from U.S
freezing more than $300 billion of Russian assets and banning exports of its energy supplies.Ukraine has also been pushing for new Western
fighter planes, including F-16s, as it pursues a counteroffensive that experts say is failing.Meanwhile, at a UN Security Council meeting,
that was aimed as discussing the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, member states denounced Ukraine's inclusion in the
session, saying it was an attempt at diverting attention away from the JCPOA, in a bid to spread false allegations against
Iran.Representatives from the U.S., UK and the head of the EU delegation denounced Moscow for allegedly using Iranian unmanned aerial
vehicles in its conflict against Kyiv.Russia and Iran have repeatedly denounced the allegations, accusing the West of trying to divert
attention from the crisis in Ukraine, with their own massive arms shipments to the warzone.Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily
Nebenzia, denounced the participation of Ukraine at the meeting, saying "the invitation for participation in today's meeting in violation of
the longstanding practice, an invitation to Ukraine, which is not a party to the nuclear deal, is a political, politicized, provocative step
geared towards undermining a constructive discussion on 22/31 at the Security Council
This is yet another stain on the reputation of London as president of the Security Council."Nebenzia also slammed statements made by the U.S
representative at the session saying that "clearly, the pathos and emotionally charged statement of the U.S
representative was clearly intended to distract attention from the endless flows of weapons provided by Washington to the Kyiv
intention of addressing the baseless allegations put forward by the representative of Ukraine or certain member states against my country
during this meeting regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine."The Iranian ambassador also said "Certain council members are deliberately
attempting to divert international attention away from the root causes of the current situation concerning the implementation of the JCPOA
and the ongoing material violation of Resolution 22/31 by the United States since the legitimate withdrawal from the agreement in 2018."Iran
has repeatedly said it has sent drones to Russia, but they have not been used in the Ukraine crisis
