HRW Urges US Congress to Block Transfer of Cluster Munitions from Turkey to Ukraine

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the US Congress to block the transfer of cluster munitions from Turkey's stockpiles to Ukraine. The deal, worth $256 million, includes 70 M39 ATACMS missiles, 2,524 M26 rockets, and 47,000 M509A1 artillery shells, containing over 10 million submunitions. HRW argues that these outdated weapons pose a significant risk to civilians due to their unreliability and the potential for unexploded submunitions to remain dangerous after hostilities cease. The organization notes that neither Ukraine, Russia, nor the US have signed or ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of such weapons.