Foreign Policy: Turkey supplies Kiev with cluster bombs

WORLD, Jan. 11 (YPA) – Turkey has been providing American-style cluster munitions to Ukraine since November 2022, Foreign Policy magazine reported, citing US and EU representatives.

The NATO ally began sending the first batches of so-called dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs) in November 2022, which were made during the Cold War era under a co-production agreement with the United States.

The weapons are designed to destroy tanks by bursting into smaller submunitions, which can linger on the battlefield for years if they do not immediately explode. Each round scatters about 88 bomblets.

The United States is barred from exporting DPICMs under US law because of its high dud rate.

“After the United States (Ukraine) denied access to cluster munitions, Turkey was the only place Ukraine could get them from,” the magazine adds, citing informed sources.

Russia has previously sent a note to NATO countries over the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously stated that NATO countries are “playing with fire” by supplying Ukraine with weapons.

The Kremlin has also repeatedly made it clear that Ukraine’s infusion of weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative impact.

E.M