MOSCOW

The US supplying cluster bombs to Ukraine amounts to war crimes, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Asked at a press briefing in Moscow how Russia characterizes the US decision to deliver cluster bombs to Ukraine, Maria Zakharova said: "The same way the US characterizes those (other countries) who do it. As war criminals."

On July 7, the US announced that the Biden administration had authorized cluster bomb deliveries to Ukraine. Cluster munitions are banned by more than 100 countries, including the UK, France, and Germany, under a 2008 UN convention.

The US, Russia, and Ukraine are not signatories to the ban.

Cluster munitions release bomblets that scatter in the target area and may explode years later, causing civilian casualties.

The 2008 UN Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions.