US President Joe Biden has defended his “very difficult decision” to give Ukraine cluster bombs, which have a record of killing civilians.
The president said it had taken him “a while to be convinced to do it”, but he had acted because “the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition”.
Ukraine’s leader hailed the “timely” move, but human rights groups and some Democrats criticised the decision.
A Moscow envoy slammed Washington’s “cynicism”.
Mr Biden told CNN in an interview on Friday that he had spoken to allies about the decision, which comes ahead of a Nato summit in Lithuania next week.
Cluster bombs are banned by more than 120 countries, but have been used by both Russia and Ukraine during the war.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told Friday’s daily White House briefing that officials “recognise the cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm” from unexploded bombs.
“This is why we’ve deferred the decision for as long as we could.”
Mr Sullivan said Ukraine was running out of artillery and needed “a bridge of supplies” while the US ramps up domestic production.
“We will not leave Ukraine defenceless at any point in this conflict period,” he said.
