Ukraine

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 04 August 2017

Summary: Non-signatory Ukraine has not taken any steps to accede to the convention. It has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention, most recently in 2014, but abstained from voting on a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2016.

Ukraine is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but it sees military utility in the weapons and possesses a large stockpile of cluster munitions that it inherited from the Soviet Union. In 2014–2015, the armed forces of the government of Ukraine and Russian-backed armed opposition groups used ground-launched cluster munition rockets in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in eastern Ukraine. The government of Ukraine has repeatedly denied that it used cluster munitions in the attacks.

Policy

Ukraine has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Ukraine has acknowledged the deadly long-term consequences of cluster munitions, but has not taken any steps to accede to the convention.[1] In 2012, Ukraine told the Monitor that it “considers cluster munitions to be legal weapons which remain an important component of Ukraine’s defense capabilities.”[2] Government officials have denied evidence that Ukraine used cluster munition rockets in the country’s eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014 until a February 2015 ceasefire (see Use section below).

Ukraine has 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 deadline required by the Convention on Cluster Munitions[3] (see Stockpiling and destruction section below).

In December 2016, Ukraine abstained from the vote on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] Ukraine also abstained from the vote on the first UNGA resolution on the convention in December 2015.[5]

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

Ukraine participated as an observer in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010, 2011, and 2014. It has not attended any meetings of the convention since then, such as the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016.

Ukraine has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[7]

Ukraine is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Ukraine is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and in the past expressed a preference for cluster munitions to be addressed through this framework.[8] Ukraine has not reviewed or amended its position on cluster munitions since the CCW’s failure in 2011 to agree to a draft protocol on cluster munitions. The failure effectively ended CCW deliberations on cluster munitions and has left the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole international instrument to specifically address the human suffering caused by these weapons.

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 cluster munitions and did not import them.[9]

Stockpiling and destruction

Ukraine inherited a large stockpile of cluster munitions after the break-up of the Soviet Union. At a CCW meeting on cluster munitions in April 2011, Ukraine provided information on the types of its stockpiled cluster munitions, as detailed in the following table.

Cluster munitions of the armed forces of Ukraine[10]

 

Cluster Munition type

Surface-to-surface rocket

220mm Uragan 9M27K

300mm Smerch 9M55K

Tochka-U (SS-21)

Aircraft dispenser

KMGU containing BFK-AO2.5, BFK-ODC, BFK-PTAB, BFK-AP cartridges of submunitions

Air-dropped bomb

RBK-500-375

RBK-500-AO

RBK-500-255

RBK-500-SP-B7

RBK-500-ZAB

RBK-250-275

RBK-250-ZAB

 

In the April 2011 statement, Ukraine said that cluster munitions constituted 35% of its stocks of conventional weapons, which totaled two million tons of ammunition. Of these cluster munitions, 34% were produced before 1980, while another 36% were produced between 1981 and 1992 and “might be used.” The remaining 30% contained antivehicle landmines.[11]

Ukraine has reported the destruction of an average of 10,000–20,000 tons of cluster munitions annually and estimated that it could take 60 years to destroy the stockpiles that are currently slated for destruction.[12]

Use

Ukraine last used cluster munitions in the east of the country in 2014–2015, but, despite continued hostilities, there has no evidence or allegations of new use by any party since a February 2015 ceasefire went into effect. Previously, in 2010, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that Ukraine would not use cluster munitions except to defend itself from outside aggression.[13] In the past, Ukraine has called for a moratorium on the use of what it has described as “inaccurate and unreliable” cluster munitions.[14]

Previous use in 2014–2015

Field research conducted by Human Rights Watch in October 2014 and a follow-up investigation in January–February 2015 confirmed the use of cluster munitions by both Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed anti-government forces since July 2014.[15] An Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring mission has also reported the cluster munition rocket attacks.

Both parties to the conflict used two types of ground-fired cluster munitions in 2014 until the February 2015 ceasefire:

  • The 300mm 9M55K-series Smerch (“Tornado”) cluster munition rocket, which has a minimum range of 20 kilometers and a maximum range of 70 kilometers, and delivers 72 9N235 submunitions.
  • The 220mm 9M27K-series Uragan (“Hurricane”) cluster munition rocket, which has a range of 10–35 kilometers and delivers 30 9N235 submunitions or 30 9N210 submunitions.

The Smerch and Uragan cluster munition rockets are fired from dedicated launch tubes mounted on eight-wheeled vehicles. The 9N210 and 9N235 fragmentation submunitions are designed to self-destruct a minute or two after being ejected from the rocket.[16] A significant number of submunitions used in 2014–2015 failed to self-destruct as designed. Several Smerch and Uragan cluster munition rockets malfunctioned shortly after launch and fell to the ground, still containing their full payload of submunitions.

Cluster munitions were used in dozens of urban and rural locations of Ukraine’s eastern border provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk from July 2014 until the February 2015 ceasefire, with some places hit multiple times.[17] Cluster munition rockets were used in attacks on Donetsk city and at least seven towns and villages throughout the province.[18] Cluster munition rocket attacks were recorded in Luhansk City and the towns of Novosvitlivka and Stakhanov.

There is no evidence indicating that cluster munitions were used elsewhere in Ukraine, for example, in Crimea.

Neither party to the conflict has accepted responsibility for using cluster munitions in 2014 and 2015.

Ukraine has consistently denied its use of cluster munitions and blamed the attacks on pro-Russian separatist groups.[19] Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin acknowledged the “serious accusations…deserve the deepest investigation.”[20] At the CCW in November 2014, Ukraine denied using cluster munitions.[21] At the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2015, Ukraine continued to allege that “Russia-guided illegal armed groups” and members of the Russian armed forces carried out Uragan and Smerch rocket attacks in eastern Ukraine.[22]

Russia has repeatedly drawn attention to Ukraine’s use of cluster munitions, but has not itself acknowledged or taken any responsibility for cluster munition rocket attacks by the separatist rebels backed by Russia.[23]

The use of cluster munitions in Ukraine attracted widespread media coverage, public outcry, and condemnations from at least 32 states and the European Union.[24] At Convention on Cluster Munitions intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2015, two-dozen states condemned the use of cluster munitions, of which 12 referred specifically to the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine.[25] At the First Review Conference in September 2015, States Parties adopted the Dubrovnik Declaration, which affirms: “We are deeply concerned by any and all allegations, reports or documented evidence of the use of cluster munitions, including in Cambodia, Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine and Yemen. We condemn any use of cluster munitions by any actor.”[26] During the meeting, a dozen states specifically expressed concern at or condemned cluster munition use in Ukraine.[27]

During the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2015, states including Costa Rica, Norway, Ireland, and the Netherlands expressed concern at the use of cluster munition use in Ukraine.[28]

States at the OSCE’s Permanent Council in Vienna asked the OSCE mission to collect information and report on evidence of the use of prohibited cluster munitions.[29] In 2015, states responded to the OSCE mission’s reports detailing cluster munition rocket attacks.[30] Russia welcomed the mission’s “detailed analysis” of the use of cluster munitions.[31]



[1] Statement of Ukraine, Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Cluster Munitions, 8 April 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.

[2] Letter No. 4132/36-196-771 from Amb. Yuriy A. Sergeyev, Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN in Geneva, 23 April 2012; and Letter No. 181/017 from the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN in Geneva, 29 April 2010.

[3] In 2010, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that Ukraine’s “negative experience” with respect to securing international funding for the destruction of its antipersonnel mine stockpiles under the Mine Ban Treaty influences how it views the Convention on Cluster Munitions. According to the official, once Ukraine has fulfilled its Mine Ban Treaty obligations, it will consider accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. CMC meeting with Ruslan Nimchynskyi, Deputy Director-General, Directorate General for Armaments Control and Military Technical Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Vientiane, 11 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[4]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016.

[5]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[6] For details on Ukraine’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 249–250.

[7]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 71/203, 19 December 2016. Ukraine voted in favor of similar UNGA resolutions in 2013–2015.

[8] Letter No. 4132/36-196-771 from Amb. Sergeyev, Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN in Geneva, 23 April 2012.

[9] CMC meeting with Ruslan Nimchynskyi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Vientiane, 11 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[10] Presentation of Ukraine, “Impact of the CCW Draft Protocol VI (current version) on Ukraine’s Defense Capability,” Geneva, 1 April 2011, slides 3–4.

[11] Ibid., slide 2.

[12] Ibid.

[13] CMC meeting with Ruslan Nimchynskyi, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Vientiane, 11 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[14] Letter No. 181/017 from the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN in Geneva, 29 April 2010. It first called for such a moratorium in April 2008; and statement of Ukraine, CCW GGE on Cluster Munitions, 8 April 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.

[15] For an overview of the methodology used by the organization to confirm the use of cluster munitions please see the methodology section in this publication: Human Rights Watch, “Technical Briefing Note: Cluster Munition Use in Ukraine,” June 2015.

[16] Because types of submunitions are identical in size, shape, and color, the only way to distinguish them is by their external markings and by measuring the size of the pre-formed fragments they contain.

[17] For more detailed information, see Ukraine ban profile for Cluster Munition Monitor 2015. Unless noted, these incidents were all recorded by Human Rights Watch. The list of cluster munition rocket attacks does not aim to provide a comprehensive record of every instance of cluster munition use in eastern Ukraine, but is provided for illustrative purposes. See, Human Rights Watch news release, “Ukraine: Widespread Use of Cluster Munitions,” 20 October 2014; and Human Rights Watch news release, “Ukraine: More Civilians Killed in Cluster Munition Attacks,” 19 March 2015.

[18] Towns attacks in Donetsk province included Artemivsk, Hrodivka, Ilovaisk, Komsomolske, Kramatorsk, Makiievka, Slavyansk, and Starobesheve.

[19] Statement of Ukraine, OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation, Vienna, 29 October 2014.

[20] Letter from Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, to the editor of The New York Times, 30 October 2014.

[21] Statement of Ukraine, CCW Protocol IV Meeting, Geneva, 12 November 2014. Notes by the CMC.

[22] Statement of Ukraine, UNGA First Committee, New York, 13 October 2015.

[23] See, statement of Russia, OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation, Vienna, 10 December 2014.

[24] Some of the following states have condemned the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine on several occasions: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Burundi, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mauritania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, Somalia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

[25] Austria, Belgium, Burundi, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway, as well as the ICRC. Germany expressed concern at reported cluster munition use in “eastern Europe.” Notes by the CMC and Monitor.

[26]The Dubrovnik declaration 2015: Spectemur agendo (judged by our actions),” annexed to the Final Report of the Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, CCM/CONF/2015/7, 13 October 2015.

[27] Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, and Zambia. See, “High Level Segment,” Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 7–9 September 2015.

[28]General Debate,” UNGA First Committee, New York, 8–16 October 2015.

[29] Statement of Russia, Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, Vienna, 3 November 2014; and statement of Russia, Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, Vienna, 30 October 2014.

[30] See, for example, OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, “Latest report: 9 November 2014.”

[31] Statement of Russia, Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, Vienna, 5 February 2015.