During a portion of an interview with Washington Post columnist and CNN host Fareed Zakaria set to air on Sunday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that was released on Friday, President Joe Biden defended his decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine by stating that Ukraine is “running out” of the ammunition that they need, and “we’re low on it.”
Biden said, “[I]t was a very difficult decision on my part. And by the way, I discussed this with our allies. I discussed this with our friends up on the Hill. And we’re in a situation where Ukraine continues to be brutally attacked across the board by munitions, by these cluster munitions that have dud rates that are very, very low — I mean, very high, that are a danger to civilians, number one.”
He continued, “Number two, the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition. The ammunition — they call them 155-millimeter weapons. This is a war relating to munitions. And they’re running out of that ammunition, and we’re low on it. And so, what I finally did, I took the recommendation of the Defense Department to, not permanently, but to allow for, in this transition period, while we get more 155 weapons — these shells for the Ukrainians, to provide them with something that has a very low dud rate. … And it’s not used in civilian areas. They’re trying to get through those trenches and stop those tanks from rolling. And so, — but it was not an easy decision. And it’s not — we’re not signatories of that agreement. But, it took me a while to be convinced to do it. But the main thing is, they either have the weapons to stop the Russians now…keep them from stopping the Ukrainian offensive through these areas, or they don’t. And I think they needed them.”
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