The U.S. said it will allow European countries to train Ukrainian fighters on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets. Meanwhile, Russia has vowed to respond in kind if Ukraine deploys cluster munitions provided by the U.S. This is Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Sergei Shoigu: “I want to mark that Russia has cluster bombs for all occasions. They are more effective than American and more widely varied.”

Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. are not signatories to an international treaty banning the use of cluster bombs. We’ll have more on cluster munitions later in the broadcast with U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk and former Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström.

President Vladimir Putin said he plans to go ahead with a trip to South Africa next month to attend the BRICS summit despite a warrant for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court. As a member of the ICC, South Africa would be obligated to arrest Putin.