Cluster Munitions: Russian Strategy of Terror Against Ukrainian Population

Official data from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reveal a large-scale Russian strategy for deliberately destroying civilian objects using prohibited cluster munitions. Military equipment includes attaching special cluster bombs to various long-range strike systems: aviation platforms, rocket complexes "Smerch", "Grad", "Uragan" and "Tochka-U".

Documented attacks reveal the tragic statistics of Russian aggression. On March 17, 2022, 22 people were killed and 31 were injured in a large-scale shelling in Chernihiv. Another notable case is the strike on the railway station in Kramatorsk on April 8, 2022, where 54 people were killed and 135 civilians were wounded.

Experts define these actions as a systematic war crime that directly violates international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. In addition to cluster munitions, the Russian army uses kamikaze drones, ballistic and cruise missiles with the obvious aim of terrorizing the civilian population.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry insists on taking specific actions, including a possible withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines. This move would allow the country to take more effective defensive measures against the aggressor.

It is noteworthy that several European countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland have already taken similar steps, taking into account the real threat of Russian aggression. The goal is to ensure adequate territorial defense and a symmetrical response to the Kremlin's genocidal methods.

The international community is called upon to qualify Russia as a terrorist state. Every lost minute means new opportunities for attacks against civilians. Ukraine continues to believe that justice will prevail.