Cluster munitions

US official on timing of cluster munitions' use in Ukraine: Russia will be "the first to know"

Alex Marquardt

US-supplied cluster munitions got into Ukraine so quickly because they were already prepositioned in Europe, a US official told CNN.

Now that the munitions are in Ukraine, when will they be used? “We’ve made a decision to let the Russians be the first to know,” the official said.

The Pentagon confirmed Thursday the weapons were in Ukraine, after a Ukrainian commander told CNN in an earlier interview that they had been received and could "radically change" the battlefield situation.

The controversial cluster munitions are banned by over 100 countries around the globe.

Joint Staff Director for Operations Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims said Thursday during a press conference that the Ukrainians don’t have “any interest in using the cluster munitions anywhere near the civilian population, unlike the Russians.”