Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, told Newsmax that cluster munitions should have been sent to Ukraine earlier.
Appearing Thursday on "The Record with Greta Van Susteren," Petraeus argued that the controversial bombs are critical to penetrating Russian defenses in Ukraine's occupied eastern and southern regions.
Kyiv confirmed this week that it had received the munitions, which are prohibited in over 100 countries because they can release smaller bomblets that kill indiscriminately over a wide area.
In addition, bomblets that do not immediately explode can lay dormant and endanger civilians.
"Ukraine is going to use these on their own territory," Petraeus insisted. "Not in civilian areas — as the Russians have been using them on their territory — but in military areas to try to get through these very heavily-layered defenses of minefields, tank ditches, trench lines ... and so forth."
According to the retired U.S. general, the failure rate of Russian cluster bombs is "much, much higher than the rate of those that we'll provide, which are well under 2.5%."
Petraeus, however, acknowledged that the dud rate of 2.5% is still higher than the 1% agreed to internationally at the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which the U.S. has not signed.
"These are not nuclear weapons. These are small munitions. Yes, they are very dangerous. But again, also the Ukrainians are running out of artillery and out of rockets. We are ramping up our production as rapidly as we can," Petraeus said.
"Keep in mind that this ground is already covered with massive numbers of duds from Russian munitions that they have been using," he said, adding that "this is their territory at the end of the day."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.