getting ukraine the capabilities that it needs to conduct this counter offensive, and we ve seen some progress, and we re going to continue to make sure they have what they need to be successful on the ground. you re certainly right the russians have been dug in for a while, but on the idea of what ukraine needs to be successful from a counter offensive, we heard from the president over the weekend in a televised interview and the national security advisor just a few hours ago acknowledging ukraine has run low on some sort of ammunitions. give us an update as to what they have have, you know, what else the u.s. is sending that way including the sort of somewhat controversial decision to send these cluster weapons. well, look, both sides are spending thousands of rounds of artillery each and every day. so it s important to make sure that ukraine can sustain itself, so these cluster munitions you mention are meant to be a bridge to the future. we re in the process of ramping up produ
weapons is a long, long time. and the dangers posed to the public five, ten years from now about cluster weapons, the impediments left in the ground, particles left in the ground. sure. that s a tough decision to make, no? very tough. the president said so himself. this was not an easy decision and not something he did without careful thought. we d make two points here to yours, mike. one is the dud rate, the failure rate of the cluster munitions that we re going to be providing is exceedingly low, less than 2.5%. by comparison, just to make the point, the russian dud rate of the cluster munitions they re using in ukraine is about 30% to 40%. far more duds on the battlefield. number two, we re going to work with the ukrainians, and we are already, but we re certainly working with them through and past this war after its over, to work on de-mining effort, to make it as safe as possible. the last thing i d say, mike, is
controversial topic. did the ukrainians ask specifically for cluster weapons, or are you emptying out the ordinance to get them to ukraine? mike, the reason we re doing this is to bridge to a higher rate of capacity for us to produce unitary, normal, conventional artillery shells. this is a gunfight, quite literally, and they are trying to work through minefields while they are being fired at. artillery is something they re going through many thousand rounds a day of these artillery shells. the cluster munitions will give them a bridging capability while we get our own production ramped up. it is something that certainly the ukrainians you asked if they asked for it they ve certainly being using cluster munitions throughout the war. they ve gotten them from other sources, not from the united states, because it was a difficult decision president biden had to make. it came down to keeping them in the fight and not allowing them to go defenseless in the middle of a gunfight. i m s
tomorrow but nato leaders do not want to pin a date down in terms of when ukraine will actuallyjoin nato. when ukraine will actually oin nato. when ukraine will actually oin nato. ., , ., ., ., when ukraine will actually oin nato. ., , ., . . . nato. i ve only got a minute and a half and i want nato. i ve only got a minute and a half and i want to nato. i ve only got a minute and a half and i want to wash nato. i ve only got a minute and a half and i want to wash you - nato. i ve only got a minute and a| half and i want to wash you you half and i want to wash you you ask you a few quick questions. if cluster bombs are used in ukraine the russian army would be forced to use similar methods. how much of that issue is still being talked about in the use of cluster weapons full? i about in the use of cluster weapons full? ~ about in the use of cluster weapons full? ~ ,, ., full? i think the us made their decision after full? i think the us made their decision after the