more than 1,000 people have been killed or wounded by cluster bombs in the war in Ukraine now Ukraine registered the highest number of recorded annual cluster munition casualties in the world since Russia's Invasion began in February of 20122 now the data was shared by the cluster munition Coalition in its annual report in this next report I'm going to delve into what cluster bombs are all about let's get started now cluster Munitions or cluster bombs they are designed to disperse several submunitions and submunitions are small bombs they are dispersed after exploding in the air the submunitions are essentially grenades with tail fins or a streamer to help them land in the right orientation now the submunitions then explode when they hit the ground affecting a much larger area than a single concentrated explosion in the case of an orthodox bomb it can cover areas the side of several football fields they are highly effective against wide area targets such as infantry artillery and a vehicle convoys as well cluster Munitions can be dropped from Planes they can even be fired from artillery before exploding midair and scattering bomblets over a wide area cluster Munitions are very controversial as a weapon of War they got they have the nickname steel rain because of their intense and and widespread effects now as these bombs are fired without any guidance system they can fall far away from their intended targets which makes them even more deadly the cluster bombs also have a very high dud rate now a dud is essentially an explosive which does not explode and a high dud rate means that the the the bombs they often fail to detonate when they crash to the ground the non- detonating bomblets they still pose a very high risk they effectively turn into anti-personnel mines and it can easily kill innocent civilians years after the conflict is over one of the worst affected by these non- detonating bomblets are children who often get drawn towards them due to their unique shape and colors now the convention on cluster Munitions signed by 124 countries so far and as many as 112 countries have ratified the treaty which came into effect in the year 2010 Banning the use of cluster bombs the treaty prohibits all use transfer production and stockpiling of cluster Munitions however Russia Ukraine and the United States have not signed this treaty both sides have used cluster bombs in the Ukraine war against each other and the United States sparked an outcry over its decision to transfer cluster Munitions to Kiev in July last year according to to the landmine and cluster munition monitor unexploded ordinance from landmines to cluster bombs have caused more than 14,500 deaths from 1999 to 2013 [Music]