A video that appeared on social media late Thursday appears to show Ukrainian forces using cluster munitions obtained from the United States for the first time during a Russian attack.

Administrators of the OSINTTechnical page note that it will be a volley of DPICM (dual-purpose improved conventional munition) shells – a type of cluster munition designed to be launched by artillery systems, and not from aircraft, as in the case of cluster bombs.

An extended version of the video shows what happened: Ukrainians hit a Russian platoon during an attack or reconnaissance with an object that looked like an artillery shell, causing several casualties. After the Russian military tried to hide in the nearby trees, they fired at them with cluster munitions.

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The video clip was independently geolocated as having been shot near the city of Krasnohorivka, Donetsk region

In this case, if it is indeed DPICM ammunition, it appears that it was more of a test by Ukrainian forces to see how a new weapon obtained from the US military works, and most analysts believe that this type of weapon will be used against Russian trenches and defensive positions. which have a large concentration of troops.

What Ukrainian commanders said about receiving cluster munitions

The video appeared on social media after the American newspaper The Washington Post reported earlier on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had begun using cluster munitions obtained from the United States, citing several Ukrainian officials on condition of anonymity.

Earlier this week, Colonel Oleksandr Bakulin, commander of the 57th Brigade of the Armed Forces, told the BBC that Kyiv forces needed cluster munitions to “inflict maximum damage on enemy infantry,” but admitted that they “will not solve all problems.”

Another Ukrainian officer, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, confirmed to CNN last Thursday that his troops had received such ammunition promised by the administration of US President Joe Biden on July 7.

“We just received them, we haven’t used them yet, but they can radically change (the battlefield),” said Brigadier General Tarnavskyi, commander of the Tavria Air Force Base, a week ago.

“The adversary also understands that we will have an advantage if we get these ammunitions. The enemy will leave the territory where it can be used,” he added.

The supply of cluster munitions to Ukraine angered the Kremlin

“The transfer of cluster munitions is a gesture of desperation and an admission of weakness in the context of the failure of the so-called Ukrainian counteroffensive,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Russian diplomacy, for its part, condemned the “cynical attempt to prolong the agony of the current Ukrainian authorities without concern for civilian casualties” of these bombs, which have low accuracy and kill indiscriminately, scattering small explosive charges before or after impact.

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the issue in person on Sunday, threatening that the Russian armed forces would turn to their own stockpiles if such munitions were used by the Ukrainian military.

“I would like to note that the Russian Federation has a sufficient stock of various types of cluster bombs. I haven’t used them yet. But, of course, if they are used against us, we reserve the right to take retaliatory measures,” said the head of the Kremlin.

Putin also said that he considers the use of cluster bombs a crime and that Russia has not yet had to use them itself, although it has had problems with ammunition in the past.

Despite his claims, UN investigators found at least 24 separate cases where Russian forces used cluster munitions against Ukrainians.

Why are cluster munitions so controversial?

Cluster bombs are banned in more than 100 countries. They typically launch large numbers of smaller projectiles that can kill over a large area, and those that do not explode remain dangerous for decades after the conflict ends.

“Ukraine has given written assurances that it will use them very carefully” to minimize risks to civilians, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said of the decision to provide such weapons to Ukraine.

Human rights groups oppose Washington’s decision, but the munitions could fuel Ukraine’s counteroffensive to retake territory seized by Russian forces after their February 2022 invasion.

Cluster munitions, whether launched from the air or by artillery systems, as in the case of those received by Ukraine, usually consist of a shell-like container containing smaller bursting projectiles called submunitions.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, some cluster munitions fail to explode 40% of the time.

With very low accuracy, they can hit many civilians. Their use and transfer is prohibited by the Oslo Convention of 2008, signed by a large part of Western countries. A 2009 law prohibits the export of U.S. cluster munitions with explosive rejections greater than 1%, covering virtually all U.S. military stockpiles.

However, it is within the prerogatives of the President of the United States to make exceptions to the prohibitions provided by US law for these munitions.

In turn, Donald Trump used these prerogatives to approve in January 2021, shortly before the end of his presidential term, an authorization to export cluster munition technology to South Korea.

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