Cluster munitions inflicted over 1,200 civilian casualties in Ukraine war, monitor says

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Ukrainian military serviceman Igor Ovcharruck holds a defused cluster bomb from an MSLR missile, among a display of pieces of rockets used by Russian army, that a Ukrainian munitions expert said did not explode on impact, in the region of Kharkiv, Ukraine, October 21, 2022. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA  -  Cluster munitions have caused more than 1,200 civilian casualties in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, a campaign group said on Monday. 

Cluster munitions, which can cause severe injuries, have continued to be used by both sides during the conflict, particularly Russia, causing civilian deaths and injuries, the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor said in a new report.

"There continue to be attacks impacting civilian areas and residential buildings. Individual attacks...have killed dozens of civilians and left hundreds injured," said Michael Hart, Cluster Munition Monitor Research Specialist.  

Neither Russia nor Ukraine is party to the 2008 convention which bans cluster munitions, which currently has 112 member countries.

Cluster munitions, fired from the ground or by aircraft, explode mid-air, spraying smaller bomblets over a wide area.

Survivors often suffer major injuries from blasts and burns that can result in lifelong medical needs, and campaigners worry in particular about unexploded bombs that remain on the battlefield long after a conflict ends.

The United States transferred cluster munitions to Ukraine in at least seven separate shipments between July 2023 and October 2024, including weapons that apparently transited through Germany, which is party to the Convention, the report found. There have been no new transfers under U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, it added. 

The Monitor said that Lithuania's withdrawal from the treaty in March 2025 "raised concerns about the erosion of humanitarian disarmament norms." It is the first country to pull out of the convention.

"We have already seen the impact this decision has had on the Mine Ban Treaty, and states should be extremely wary of a wider domino effect," Tamar Gabelnick, Director of the Cluster Munition Coalition said. 

Ukraine in June joined a handful of countries in announcing its withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on landmines, in the face of what they say are growing military threats from Russia.  

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Sharon Singleton // REUTERS)