The Biden administration is expected to announce the deployment of cluster munitions on Friday, according to the BBC citing CBS News.

The US is planning to send Ukraine a package of cluster munitions to help it counter-attack against Russia, US media reports. Ukraine has been asking for the weapons for months amid an ammunition shortage.

Cluster munitions, which are banned by more than 100 countries, are a class of weapons that contain multiple explosive bombs called submunitions.

US officials have reportedly been hesitant to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions, as they can kill indiscriminately over a wide area, thereby threatening civilians. The US has a stockpile of these cluster bombs, which were first developed during World War II.

The munitions are controversial because of their high failure rates, meaning that unexploded bombs can remain on the ground for years and possibly detonate later.

US law prohibits carrying cluster munitions with bomb failure rates higher than 1%, meaning more than 1% of the bombs in the weapon fail to explode, but President Joe Biden can override that rule.

Defense Department officials told reporters Thursday that the Biden administration is considering sending cluster munitions with a failure rate of less than 2.35 percent.

The Pentagon noted that Russia is already using cluster bombs in Ukraine with even higher failure rates. A United Nations investigation found that Ukraine has likely used them as well, although the country has denied it.
Officials plan to send artillery shells into Ukraine, each containing 88 separate bombs, according to US media reports. They will be fired from Howitzer artillery weapons already deployed by the Ukrainian military.

The aid package also includes Bradley and Stryker combat vehicles, air defense missiles and anti-mine equipment, officials told reporters.

Human rights groups have urged Russia and Ukraine not to use cluster munitions and asked the US not to supply them.

In a statement on Friday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights once again called on countries not to use cluster bombs, saying they are dangerous.

“Cluster munitions disperse small bombs over a wide area, many of which fail to detonate immediately,” office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado said. “They can kill and maim years later. That’s why their use must be stopped immediately.”

Some US lawmakers have also called on the Biden administration not to send the weapons, arguing that their humanitarian costs outweigh their benefits on the battlefield.

Defense Department official Laura Cooper told Congress last month that military analysts had determined that cluster bombs would be “useful, especially against dug-in Russian positions.”

The Biden administration’s new arms package is worth $800 million, CBS News reported.