Barbara Lee criticizes Biden plan to give Ukraine cluster bombs

California Rep. Barbara Lee (D) on Sunday criticized the Biden administration’s plan to give Ukraine cluster munitions as Kyiv mounts its counteroffensive against Russia’s ongoing invasion. 

“Cluster bombs should never be used. That’s crossing a line,” Lee said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“Once you see what takes place, we know what takes place in terms of cluster bombs being very dangerous to civilians. They don’t always immediately explode. Children can step on them. That’s a line we should not cross,” she said.

The administration last week announced plans to provide Ukraine with the weapons, which contain multiple explosive submunitions. The controversial bombs are banned by many countries due to the risks the explosives pose to civilians.

President Biden defended the decision, saying it was a “very difficult decision” made after discussions with allies and lawmakers.

“The Ukrainians are running out of ammunition,” Biden said on CNN, adding of the cluster munitions that “I think they needed them.”

Lee, while praising Biden’s other work in dealing with the war in Ukraine, broke with her fellow Democrat on the type of weapons the U.S. now plans to send the war-torn country.

“I think the President’s been doing a good job managing this war, this Putin aggressive war against Ukraine, but I think that this should not happen,” Lee said Sunday of the cluster munitions. 

“And so I’m hoping that the administration would reconsider this because these are very dangerous bombs. They’re dangerous weapons. And this is a line that I don’t believe we should cross.”