Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published Sunday that Moscow has a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster munitions, and warned that Russia “reserves the right to take reciprocal action” if Ukraine uses the controversial weapons.
In his first comments on the delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine from the U.S., Putin said that Russia hasn’t used cluster bombs in the war with Ukraine so far. But the use of cluster bombs by both Russia and Ukraine has been widely documented, including by The Associated Press and international humanitarian organizations, and cluster rounds have been found in the aftermath of Russian strikes.
“Until now, we have not done this, we have not used it, and we have not had such a need,” he said.
Rossiya TV reporter Pavel Zarubin published excerpts of the interview to his Telegram channel Sunday before a scheduled broadcast on Sunday night.
The Pentagon said Thursday that cluster munitions provided by the United States had arrived in Ukraine.
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