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Lawmakers Urge Biden Admin to Send 'Cluster Munitions' to Ukraine

The Biden administration should “immediately” send “cluster munitions,” including “dual purpose improved conventional munitions,” to Ukraine’s military as it fights against Russia, Republicans said in a March 21 letter to the White House. The lawmakers said they “remain deeply disappointed in your administration’s reluctance to provide Ukraine with the right type and amount of long-range fires and maneuver capability to create and exploit operational breakthroughs against the Russians,” adding that the consequences are “playing out on the battlefield.”

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Cluster munitions would be “highly effective against personnel -- both enemy troops in the open and entrenched infantry -- and mechanized vehicles,” said the letter, signed by Sens. Jim Risch of Idaho and Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and Reps. Michael McCaul of Texas and Mike Rogers of Alabama. While “no individual munition or system will prove to be the key,” they said, “we believe that DPICM could help fill a key gap for Ukraine’s military, and, in concert with other provided capabilities, continue to push” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces out of Ukraine.

The White House didn’t comment.