Stoltenberg: NATO did not provide Ukraine with cluster munitions

This weapon will effectively counter Russian "human wave" attacks. At the same time, 110 countries have signed a convention on the non-use of these munitions.

"NATO neither recommended nor supplied this type of weapon," said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a discussion at the Munich Security Forum.

Ukraine's request for these shells became public in December 2022. At the time, CNN learned from White House sources that the US had been considering the request for several months.

At the end of 2022, a private military company began to use "human waves" tactics, throwing small assault units wave after wave at Ukrainian positions. The role of armored vehicles in this tactic is rather insignificant.

Mykola Bielieskov, an expert at the National Institute of Strategic Studies, believes that cluster munitions would be effective in countering these waves.

At the end of January, the Minister of Defense of Estonia Hanno Pevkur stated that Estonia sees no problem in providing Ukraine with cluster munitions. At the same time, this requires the permission of the country of origin, Germany.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who participated in the discussion together with Stoltenberg, cautiously spoke out against the transfer of these shells to Ukraine.

"We are guided by the UN Charter, we are guided by international humanitarian law," she said.

About 110 countries have signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Cluster Munitions. Ukraine, the USA, and Estonia are not among them, but Germany is.