The US decision to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions is an inconsequential act that will still fail to defeat Moscow's forces on the battlefield, Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.
“The transfer of cluster munitions is an act of desperation and evidence of failure of the highly publicized Ukrainian 'counteroffensive,'" Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
“It will not affect the course of a special military operation," Zakharova added, using the preferred terminology among Kremlin officials to describe the war in Ukraine.
Zakharova claimed the US decision was "aimed at maximally prolonging the conflict in Ukraine," but that Russia's goals for the invasion will still be fully achieved.
Some context: Officials with the US Department of Defense have acknowledged that one of the primary reasons they're providing cluster munitions to Kyiv is that its counteroffensive is "going a little slower than some had hoped."
The Ukrainian military has so far failed to yield major gains, documenting incremental advances on the front lines during the offensive's opening stages.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants to be strategic about where he sends troops in order to minimize casualties, especially considering they are making a slog through heavily mined territories and fortified Russian defenses.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley has said the pace of the counteroffensive is not surprising, given those factors.
US President Joe Biden told CNN that he deeply considered the issue of providing the cluster munitions — controversial weapons that are banned by over 100 nations because of the potential risk they pose to civilians. Ultimately, he concluded that the risk of Russia succeeding in its invasion was greater than that of letting Ukraine use the weapons on their own soil, he said.
CNN's Ivana Kottasová and Michael Conte contributed reporting to this post.