Policy

Ukraine has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Ukraine last commented on the matter of accession in an April 2012 letter to the Monitor that stated it “considers cluster munitions to be legal weapons which remain an important component of Ukraine’s defense capabilities.”[1] Ukraine has acknowledged that cluster munitions have long-term and deadly consequences for humanity and in 2008 said the weapons should be dealt with “urgently.”[2] It has called for a moratorium on the use of “inaccurate and unreliable cluster munitions.”[3]

Ukraine has expressed a preference for cluster munitions to be tackled through the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) to which it is a party, in order to achieve “balance” between “military and humanitarian…considerations.”[4] It has not changed or reviewed this position since the CCW’s failure in 2011 to agree on a draft protocol on cluster munitions, effectively ending the CCW deliberations on the matter and leaving the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole international instrument to address cluster munitions.

Ukraine has also stated that, if using its own resources alone, it would not be able to destroy the large stockpile of cluster munitions that it inherited from the Soviet Union within the eight-year stockpile destruction deadline required by the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5] (See Stockpiling and destruction section below.)

Ukraine participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 as an observer.[6]

Since 2008, Ukraine has shown limited interest in the convention. It participated as an observer in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties held in 2010 and 2011, but was absent from the 2012 and 2013 Meetings of States Parties. Ukraine has not attended any of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, such as those held in April 2014.

Ukraine voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which condemned Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights” including the use of cluster munitions.[7]

Ukraine is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Use

In 2010, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that Ukraine would not use cluster munitions except to defend itself from outside aggression.[8]

In early July 2014, evidence emerged that strongly indicates ground-launched cluster munitions were used in recent weeks in two separate locations in eastern Ukraine during fighting between Ukrainian government forces and armed insurgents.[9]

On 3 July, the remnants of a 300mm 9M55K cluster munition rocket and a 9N235 fragmentation submunition were identified from photographs reportedly taken at Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.[10] A total of 72 individual 9N235 submunitions are contained in each 9M55K rocket, which is fired from the 9K58 Smerch multiple-barrel rocket launcher over a maximum range of 90 kilometers.

On 11 July, photographs taken by the Associated Press at an insurgent base at Slavyansk, which was abandoned during the Ukrainian government’s early July take-back of the town, show the remnants of at least eight 220mm 9M27K-series cluster munition rockets and at least three fragmentation submunitions that are all either 9N210 and 9N235.[11] These rockets are fired from the 9K57 Uragan multi-barrel rocket launcher, which has a maximum range of 35 kilometers. According to the Associated Press, the remnants at Slavyansk were collected and destroyed by Ukrainian government explosive ordnance disposal teams. A photograph of the 9N210 submunitions shows that some failed to self-destruct and were disassembled manually.[12]

The government of Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied using cluster munitions in eastern Ukraine.[13]

On 4 July 2014, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the government of Ukraine of using cluster munitions against civilians.[14] On 25 July 2014, a senior commander of the Russian General Staff expressed concern that Ukrainian forces were using cluster munitions in civilian areas.[15]

The CMC has expressed concern at the oncern that Ukrainian forces were using cluster munitions inne and urged the government of Ukraine to confirm or deny the use allegations.[16]

Production and transfer

Ukraine is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions. In November 2010, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that Ukraine was not producing new cluster munitions, and would not export or import the weapons from any other country.[17]

Stockpiling and destruction

Ukraine inherited a large stockpile of cluster munitions from the break-up of the Soviet Union. During a CCW meeting on cluster munitions in April 2011, Ukraine provided information on the types of its stockpiled cluster munitions.

Cluster Munitions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine[18]

Ukraine stated that cluster munitions constitute 35% of its stockpile of conventional weapons totaling two million tons of ammunition. Of these cluster munitions, 34% were produced before 1980. Another 36.18% were produced between 1981 and 1992 and “are planned to be stockpiled and might be used.” The remaining 29.82% contain antivehicle landmines.[19]

Ukraine also reported a yearly average destruction of 10,000–20,000 tons of cluster munitions, and concluded that under present conditions, it would take 60 years to destroy the stockpiles that are currently slated for destruction.[20]