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Context: Russia has been accused for using cluster bombs and vacuum bombs in the ongoing war against Ukraine.

About cluster bombs:

• According to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, a cluster munition means a “conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive submunitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosive submunitions”.
• Cluster munitions are non-precision weapons that are designed to injure or kill human beings indiscriminately over a large area, and to destroy vehicles and infrastructure such as runways, railway or power transmission lines.
• They can be dropped from an aircraft or launched in a projectile that spins in flight, scattering many bomblets as it travels.
• The Convention on Cluster Munitions specifically identifies “cluster munition remnants”, which include “failed “failed cluster munitions, abandoned cluster munitions, unexploded submunitions and unexploded bomblets”.

What is a thermobaric weapon?

• They are known as aerosol bombs, fuel air explosives, or vaccum bombs.
• It uses oxygen from the air for a large, high-temperature blast.
• A thermobaric weapon causes significantly greater devastation than a conventional bomb of comparable size.
• It can be fired as rockets from tank-mounted launchers or dropped from aircraft.
• As they hit their target, a first explosion splits open the bomb’s fuel container, releasing a cloud of fuel and metal particles that spreads over a large area.
• A second explosion then occurs, igniting the aerosol cloud into a giant ball of fire and sending out intense blast waves that can destroy even reinforced buildings or equipment and vaporise human beings.

Is it legal to use these weapons?

• Countries that have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions are prohibited from using cluster bombs.
• As of date, there are 110 state parties to the convention, and 13 other countries have signed up but are yet to ratify it.
• Neither Russia nor Ukraine are signatories.
• Vacuum bombs are not prohibited by any international law or agreement, but their use against civilian populations in built-up areas, schools or hospitals, could attract action under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.
• International humanitarian law prohibits the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-cluster-bombs-thermobaric-weapons-russia-ukraine-war-7797978/

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