Kiev calls for cluster and phosphorus weapons in the fight against Russia, the West reacts frostily. Apparently he wants Ukraine to survive a war of annihilation with a snow-white slate. But that is unreal.
At the Munich Security Conference, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Kubrakov asked the West to also supply cluster munitions and phosphorus incendiary weapons. His argument: Russia also uses the banned weapons, and it only hits its own territory. Observers speak of an “icy” reaction among the participants – but accusing a country that has been fighting its own annihilation for almost a year of such an appeal is very unrealistic.
Those who are now turning away from Ukraine in disappointment because they see the demand for banned weapons as a betrayal of the sheer heroism and innocence of a country that has been unlawfully attacked have understood nothing.
Ukrainians still remember the attack on the Kramatorsk train station in April 2022, when hundreds of people tried to flee by train and Russia dropped a cluster bomb on the fleeing people. Dozens of small projectiles released killed 61 people, including children. Imagine if the Ukrainians did the same thing in a Russian city in response. The West would have turned away disappointed. The principle of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” does not fit our values. But we are not the ones being attacked. It’s easy to just want the right thing.
Yes, both the use of cluster munitions and phosphorus bombs quite rightly violate international conventions. And yes, Ukraine should by no means use them as well. But where are the conventional alternatives? Not much is left of the much-vaunted tank alliance, and fighter jets are not really talked about in Europe either.
The Ukrainian government knows very well: it will not receive any banned ammunition from the West. The fact that she nevertheless publicly addresses the appeal to her allies – and of all places in front of the global top politicians gathered in Munich – should not only be understood as an act of desperation, but above all as a clear signal: firstly to those who are with their foreign-projected Idealism believe that Ukraine wants to win the fight for its own survival with a clean slate. And secondly, to those who, even after Bucha, Irpin and Kramatorsk, never tire of repeating Russian propaganda.
The West should ask itself: if it is not possible to prevent the Russians from using banned weapons and Ukraine should not get their hands on them in the first place, how can the Ukrainian people be protected from them? The answer to that is actually quite simple.
