President Biden is considering sending cluster munitions to Ukraine despite their ban by most countries in the world. The move is in response to concerns about Ukraine's struggle against Russian troops and the dwindling stockpiles of conventional artillery in the West. The decision to provide the controversial munitions, which have a failure rate of over 1 percent, has gone through months of internal debate within the administration.

The principal weapon under consideration is the M864 artillery shell, which is fired from the 155mm howitzers provided by the United States and other Western countries. The Pentagon, citing new assessments from 2020, claims that the failure rates of the munitions are below 2.35 percent. However, details of these assessments, including the testing methods, have not been released.

While key Republicans have been urging Biden to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, there are also skeptics within his own party. Critics of cluster munitions argue that they pose a threat to civilian populations due to the unexploded ordnance they leave behind.

The decision on whether to send cluster munitions to Ukraine now rests with President Biden. The move could potentially give Ukraine an edge in their counteroffensive against Russia.