Unfortunately, Russia decided early on that international law and relations are an acceptable price for their war. That means some bad stuff will come their way as well, and very little sympathy will be heard from the rest of the world.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

I agree, and that’s why they’re outlawed.

They're not outlawed. There's a treaty that many countries belong to that prohibits parties to the treaty from using them, but neither of Ukraine nor Russia are party to it (nor is the US, for that matter):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Cluster_Munitions

It's not illegal for Russia or Ukraine to use them. But legalities aside, at some point after the war, all of the UXO -- and not just the cluster munitions, but stuff like the mines and dud unitary-warhead weapons and abandoned explosives and all that sort of stuff -- is going to be a hazard until people have gone through and cleared the areas.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

It should also be noted that Ukraine didn't ask for cluster munitions until Russia constantly bombarded them with cluster munitions, including within Kharkiv city. So my sympathies for Russia facing unexploded bomblets is quite frankly not there.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I stand corrected

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Which all could be avoided had Russia not violated the sovereignty of Ukraine.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago

Yup. But here we are.