US President Joe Biden has authorized the supply of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine in a bid to bolster kyiv’s defenses against advancing Russian troops, two US officials have informed. Washington Post.
“Russia is attacking Ukrainian lines in the east with waves of troops, regardless of the losses they suffer. These mines were made specifically to combat that,” an official told the Washington Post, adding that ” the intention is that they contribute to a more effective defense” of Ukraine.
This measure, unusual until now, is part of the 180-degree turnaround in Biden’s policy in this area, which he adopted urgently before leaving the White House in January. It comes amid an escalating conflict, just a day after Ukraine attacked Russian territory for the first time with US ATACMS missiles, a red line Putin has long warned against, saying attacks on its Russian territory with long-range Western weapons would lead to an escalation of the conflict. it would be like directly involving NATO in the war.
As exclusively announced Washington PostThe shipment will consist of “non-persistent” antipersonnel landmines, meaning the mines will self-destruct or lose battery charge to render them inactive, thereby reducing the danger to civilians.
Similarly, an official told the American newspaper that Ukrainian political leaders have pledged “not to deploy mines in densely populated areas” and that their use will be limited to Ukrainian territory, particularly in the eastern part of the country.
Despite everything, this decision is very controversial, not only because of the broad international rejection of the use of this type of weapons which do not distinguish between military and civilians (164 countries have ratified the Ottawa Treaty which prohibited their use in 1997), but because it contradicts the very policy implemented by Joe Biden.
Although the United States never ratified the Ottawa Treaty, Joe Biden’s administration in 2022 reinstated an Obama-era policy and banned the manufacture and use of antipersonnel mines. He mentioned only one exception: the Korean peninsula to strengthen its defense against North Korea.
Despite the high risk that placing mines poses to the civilian population, a Ukrainian official expressed satisfaction with the news and told the Washington Post that “Russia uses them anyway.”
On Monday, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, denounced to the Security Council that almost a quarter of Ukraine’s territory is covered with anti-personnel mines, making it one of the places most mined in the world.
According to Landmine Monitor 2023, in 2022 Ukraine was the country in the world with the highest number of landmine deaths, with 608, just behind Syria, and the number of civilian casualties increased tenfold compared to 2021.
DiCarlo pointed out that during the thousand days of this war, more than 12,000 people have died in Ukraine and there are 4 million people displaced within the country and 6.8 million abroad.
