The White House has approved providing Ukraine with cluster munitions and is set to announce a drawdown of the weapons from the Defense Department on Friday. The decision comes amid concerns about the pace of Kyiv’s counteroffensive and dwindling Western stocks of conventional artillery. More than 120 nations have joined a convention banning the controversial weapons, which release smaller submunitions that can remain unexploded and endanger civilians years after a conflict has ended. The United States, Ukraine and Russia — which has allegedly used cluster munitions extensively in Ukraine — are not parties to the convention.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the Wagner Group chief at the helm of the failed rebellion against Russian defense officials last month, was in Russia on Thursday. A St. Petersburg businessman, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, confirmed Prigozhin’s presence in the country and said money and weapons seized by Russian authorities had been returned to him, The Washington Post reported.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Ukraine wants and expects an invitation to join NATO. Allies are not sure: Top Ukrainian officials are hoping that next week’s NATO summit in Lithuania will bring a “clear signal” that Ukraine will eventually join the alliance, anchoring the country in the West’s security infrastructure and sending an unequivocal message to Moscow, David L. Stern, Emily Rauhala and Isabelle Khurshudyan report.
Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, said the summit “must end” with Zelensky and Stoltenberg proclaiming an invitation for Kyiv to join the bloc. But just days before leaders arrive in the Lithuanian capital, it’s far from clear this will happen, and NATO allies are still negotiating what exactly to offer Ukraine.
