US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Ukraine would be “defenseless” if the United States had not made the decision to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with “controversial” cassette ammunition. He made this statement in an interview with NBC while attending the NATO summit in Vilnius.
Blinken emphasized that supplies of conventional artillery ammunition worldwide, including Ukraine, were already running out and were “on the verge of depletion.”
“So, the difficult but necessary choice to provide them with cassette ammunition came down to this: if we don’t do it, they will run out of ammunition. If they run out of ammunition, they will be defenseless,” said Blinken.
The US Secretary of State dismissed concerns that the cassette ammunition supplied by the United States could allegedly pose a deadly danger in Ukraine for years to come by releasing unexploded bombs that act as anti-personnel mines. Blinken stated that this had already occurred because Russia had used such weapons in Ukraine.
“Every ally I spoke with understood why we are doing this,” said Blinken.
On July 7, the United States announced a new package of military aid for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which included cassette ammunition.