Russia warns tit-for-tat action over cluster bombs to Ukraine

MOSCOW/VILNIUS, Lithuania — Russia has warned it would be forced to use "similar" weapons if the United States supplied cluster bombs to Ukraine, as the West pledged long-term security commitments for Ukraine on Wednesday.

It came before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was scheduled to hold symbolic talks with NATO's 31 leaders at their summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, a day after blasting them for not moving faster to bring Kyiv into the fold.

While some Eastern European nations have pushed for an explicit timetable to allow Kyiv to join the bloc, the US and Germany are reluctant to go beyond an earlier vow that it will become a member one day.

US President Joe Biden, who met Zelensky at the summit on Wednesday, has said there is no agreement to offer Kyiv membership because this move could drag NATO directly into the conflict.

Instead, the Vilnius gathering was expected to produce more commitments on arms shipments and a reaffirmation that Ukraine's eventual place is within the alliance once the conflict is won, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday it would closely follow any decisions taken at the two-day summit and respond with unspecified measures to protect its own security.

Biden had previously mooted a model for Ukraine similar to one under which Washington has committed to giving Israel $3.8 billion in military aid per year over a decade.

Commenting on NATO summit, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council, warned on Tuesday the increase in military assistance to Ukraine by NATO brings World War III closer.

He also mentioned there were reports of Ukraine already using the "inhuman weapon" of cluster bombs.

The US announced last week it would supply Ukraine with cluster munitions — explosive weapons that release large numbers of smaller bomblets over a wide area. They are banned by more than 120 countries, including many NATO members.

Ironic remark

Ironically, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Feb 28 last year that if the reports of illegal cluster bombs used by Russians were true, it would potentially be a war crime.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with an Indonesian newspaper published on Wednesday that the armed confrontation in Ukraine will continue until the West gives up plans to dominate and defeat Moscow.

The goal of the "US-led collective West" is to strengthen its global hegemony, Lavrov told Kompas.

Lavrov was due to attend the foreign ministers' meetings of the East Asia Summit and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum on Friday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The pair last met briefly in March at a G20 meeting in India.

In another development, Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, on Tuesday reiterated the call for an objective, impartial and professional investigation into the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines in September last year.

On Sept 26, a series of explosions occurred on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines. In the days following, Denmark, Sweden and Germany initiated their own investigations into the incidents. As of now, no investigation has reached a conclusive outcome.

"The longer the delay, the harder it is to collect evidence and find out the truth, the more doubts and speculations there are from the outside world, and the lower the credibility of the investigation results," Geng told a Security Council meeting.

Minlu Zhang at the United Nations contributed to this story.

Agencies - Xinhua - China Daily