The White House said it had postponed the decision for as long as it could because of the risk of civilian harm from such unexploded ordnance.
Ukraine has been asking for the weapons for months amid an ammunition shortage.
Cluster munitions - which are banned by more than 100 countries - are a class of weapon that contain multiple explosive bomblets called submunitions.
US President Joe Biden said in a cable TV interview that it was "a very difficult decision on my part" to send the bombs.
"I discussed this with our allies," he told CNN, "I discussed this with our friends up on the [Capitol] Hill."
U.S. officials maintained that Ukraine has provided written assurances to minimize civilian casualties with the use of the controversial munitions as human rights groups stress that the weapons drop dozens of bomblets that endanger civilians. Cluster bombs release a larger number of bomblets over a wide area, and they can continue to pose a deadly risk long after the fighting has ended.
More than 100 countries ban such weapons because unexploded bomblets can be picked up by civilians, causing injury or death.
President Biden told CNN in an exclusive interview that the decision to send Ukraine cluster munitions was "very difficult."
“The White House’s announcement runs counter to Congress’s restrictions on the transfer of these weapons and severely undermines our moral leadership. It underscores the work still ahead to press the U.S. to join the international community in banning the use of cluster munitions.”
But the decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine isn't without concern, as human rights groups cite the danger they pose to civilians and numerous countries have banned them for more than a decade.
The UN and human rights activists, however, are demanding that both sides in the war halt use of such weapons, which they say will continue to claim victims for many years to come, especially small children who unknowingly pick up duds. The move also raises ethical questions, taking the US well beyond simply training and supplying conventional weapons — and the announcement ironically dropped on the same day the US was set to destroy the last of its chemical weapons arsenal.
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