Opinion: Biden made the right call on cluster munitions for Ukraine

Editor’s Note: Adam Kinzinger is a CNN senior political commentator and a former Republican congressman from Illinois. He served 10 years on the House foreign affairs committee. Kinzinger is also a lieutenant colonel and pilot in the Air National Guard. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

Imagine it’s nighttime, and your home is invaded. You wake up shocked and numb but recognize the danger. Invaders have made it clear they want to kill you and your family. Determined to fight, you grab your shotgun and load it with shells.

In such circumstances, most people would agree you should use any means available to stop an attack on your family — whether via gun, knife or even baseball bat. Anything is better than watching your family suffer.

Still, some might question how you respond without truly understanding the context of what’s happening. It’s easy to criticize from the safety of locked gates and police patrols.

Ukraine faces a similar situation nearly a year and a half after Russia’s brutal invasion, with critics operating from the safety of nations not at war questioning Kyiv’s requests for more weapons. Some say military fire should only be directed in a limited and precise way. Or Ukraine should refrain from attacking military targets outside its borders. Or Ukraine doesn’t need fighter jets.

This dilemma over ammunition has come into focus especially since the Biden administration’s announcement last week that it would be sending cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of a new military package. More than 120 countries have signed onto a convention prohibiting their use, including many NATO members. The United States, Ukraine and Russia aren’t signatories.

Cluster munitions scatter “bomblets” across large areas, which can endanger noncombatants, and these unexploded bombs, called duds, can pose a risk to civilians for decades. As a result, some countries say cluster munitions shouldn’t be sent to Ukraine.

Well, think back to that analogy of a home invasion. Maybe those critics would say your ammunition should be limited to one single shot from a pistol instead of a more effective spread from a shotgun? It’s inherently dangerous to fire any weapon, but a shotgun has a bigger chance of hitting more area, even if isn’t the best weapon for close quarters.

By the end of this war, millions of rounds of artillery likely will have been shot over a significant part of Ukraine. And Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the Russians have been using cluster munitions with a dud rate as high as 40%. The rate refers to how often bomblets that are scattered across a large area fail to explode, and a higher rate indicates more bomblets have failed to explode on impact. Notably, the Pentagon has vowed to provide munitions with a significantly reduced dud rate.

Unfortunately, there may be casualties from unexploded ordnance all over Ukraine for years to come as a result of Russia’s decision to attack an innocent country.

But one nation, and one nation only, gets to determine whether to use cluster munitions on its land — Ukraine. Its interest in using these controversial weapons is to destroy the Russian invaders while minimizing the loss of its own citizens’ lives. It will likely be as judicious as possible while inflicting as much damage on the enemy as possible. And Ukraine’s defense minister has vowed not to use the munitions in Russia.

Yes, Kyiv will live with the scars of war, but ultimately, these munitions will save Ukrainian lives.

In a perfect world, we would ban all munitions. Differences between nations could be settled in a court or on a soccer field. But that world doesn’t exist. A nation so pointlessly attacked as Ukraine should be able to do everything to defend itself. Americans would likely consider doing the same if we were attacked.

And every nation that signed on to prohibition of cluster munitions would likely use them in a heartbeat if they were faced with a similar invasion. It’s unfair and unreasonable to request Ukraine not respond with whatever it needs to end this threat.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of the “increasing” threat of nuclear war and even suggested his country’s large number of nuclear weapons would “guarantee” its security. Ukrainians deserve everything we can give them — yes, especially cluster munitions — to save their families.

If you are in your house and your family’s lives are at risk, you get to make the decision on how to protect them. You determine what weapon you will or won’t use. And nobody gets to judge your decision. Ukraine needs ammunition, not moralizing.

President Joe Biden made the right call on cluster munitions for Ukraine and he should be commended for this difficult but necessary decision.

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