U.S. Cluster Bomb munitions have Arrived in Ukraine

begin partial quote from:

https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-07-13-23/h_e1b20643b1f6da0ba1a16e3ecdce0502

It’s mid-afternoon in Kyiv. Here’s what you need to know.

From CNN staff

After two days of diplomacy, the NATO summit in Vilnius wrapped Wednesday evening. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may have left without his main wish – full NATO membership for his war-torn country – he secured a streamlined future path into the alliance and a swathe of other security measures from Western allies.

And, upon Zelensky's return to Kyiv, a Ukrainian general confirmed to CNN that Ukraine has received cluster munitions from the United States, as his forces look to press on in their counteroffensive.

Here are the latest developments:

• Cluster munitions arrive: Ukraine has received controversial cluster munitions from the US, General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi told CNN. “We just got them, we haven’t used them yet, but they can radically change” the situation on the battlefield, he said. Tarnavskyi said that Ukraine will not use the controversial munitions in civilian areas, amid concerns over the danger they can pose to non-combatants.
• Kyiv airstrikes: Ukraine’s air defenses downed a barrage of weapons launched by Russia at Kyiv overnight, including two cruise missiles and 20 Iran-made drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said Thursday. Ukrainian officials said that one person died and two others were injured in the attack, which marked the third successive night of airstrikes on the capital.
• Russian general fired: The Russian general in command of forces in occupied southern Ukraine says he was suddenly dismissed from his post after posting a voice note criticizing Moscow’s Defense Ministry of betraying his troops by providing inadequate support. General Ivan Popov – one of Russia’s most senior commanders – said Wednesday he expressed his concerns “at the highest level frankly and extremely harshly,” and was subsequently fired by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
• And another one “resting”: With Popov fired, speculation is continuing to swirl around another Russian General – Sergey Surovikin, who has not been seen in public since last months’ aborted mutiny by the Wagner group. “He is resting now. Not available,” Andrey Kartapolov, head of Russia’s State Duma Defense Committee, said Wednesday. When CNN asked the Kremlin and Russian Ministry of Defense to comment on Surovikin’s whereabouts, neither provided clarity.
• Ukraine’s NATO future: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told CNN he has “no doubt” Ukraine will join NATO once its war with Russia is over. “We heard just about every country in the room say as much,” Austin said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in Vilnius, Lithuania, after the two-day NATO summit. Austin stressed that there is “still work to be done” in bringing Ukraine’s equipment up to NATO standards, but that Ukraine would be supported in these efforts.
• NATO summit takeaways: At last year’s NATO summit in Madrid, the alliance formally invited Sweden and Finland to join its ranks. At this year’s summit in Vilnius, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was hoping the alliance would extend his country the same favor. That was not to be. Instead, NATO confirmed that “Ukraine’s future is in NATO” – but did not say when that future could start. The alliance did, however, agree to significantly streamline Ukraine’s future bid, turning a two-step process into a one-step process. Read more here.