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    • US to give Ukraine landmines banned by 160 countries
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    US to give Ukraine landmines banned by 160 countries

    Umito Posted on

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    WASHINGTON − The Biden administration will for the first time supply Ukraine with antipersonnel landmines, controversial weapons condemned by arms control groups because of their high rates of civilian death and injury.

    Although the United States has supplied anti-tank mines to Ukraine throughout the Russian invasionit will soon begin supplying antipersonnel landmines, or APLs, a U.S. official said. Anti-personnel mines are triggered more easily than anti-tank mines.

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the policy reversal to reporters Wednesday.

    Antipersonnel landmines are banned by a treaty signed by more than 160 countries, but the United States and Russia are not signatories. Arms control and human rights groups say they cause a disproportionate number of civilian casualties, and some can put civilians at risk years after a conflict ends.

    More: Putin, ascendant in Ukraine, considers the contours of a peace agreement with Trump

    The landmines that the Biden administration will give to Ukraine are “non-persistent,” meaning they will lose their explosiveness after a period of time. Arms control organizations say the dangers to civilians remain.

    The official said the devices require power from a battery to detonate – once the battery is depleted after a period of up to two weeks, they will become “inert” – unlike landmines used by Russia in the is from Ukraine. Ukraine will only use these weapons defensively on its own territory, and the United States will seek commitments from Ukraine to limit civilian risks, according to the official.

    More: Putin lowers bar for Russia to use nuclear weapons as Ukraine launches long-range missiles

    The Biden administration last year there were negative reactions for supplying Ukraine with “cluster munitions,” another controversial weapon banned by more than 100 countries and criticized by human rights groups.

    Biden established a policy ban anti-personnel landmines outside the Korean Peninsula in 2022 after President-elect Donald Trump overturned Obama-era restrictions on weapons during his first term in 2020.

    Clearance of landmines comes days after President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles supplied by the United States go on strike deep in Russian territoryauthorization long requested by Ukraine and its supporters in Washington.

    Ukraine carried out its first strike using these weapons in Russia on Tuesday. This prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to improve Russia’s nuclear doctrine in order to lower the bar on the country’s use of nuclear weapons, the latest in a long line of nuclear threats against the United States’ Western allies. United and Ukraine.

    The Biden administration is rushing to fulfill its promise to provide more than $7 billion in aid to Ukraine before Trump takes office in January. He won’t pressure Congress for more aid to Ukraine, a senior administration official told USA TODAY this week.

    More: US closes Kyiv embassy over ‘potential significant air attack’

    International treaty bans landmines

    Humanitarian and arms control organizations have campaigned against the use of antipersonnel landmines for decades.

    “Data has repeatedly shown that when antipersonnel mines are used, civilians are disproportionately injured or killed,” Hannah Guedenet, U.S. executive director of the humanitarian group Humanity & Inclusion, said in a statement.

    The International Campaign to Ban Landmines condemned the “terrible decision by the United States,” according to a statement. shared with AFP. “The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and the entire ICBL will work to get the United States to reverse this trend.”

    Ukraine is “severely contaminated” by landmines dropped during the current conflict and the 2014 war in eastern Ukraine, according to a 2023 report. Human Rights Watch report. The explosives, dropped by Russian and Ukrainian forces, were documented in 11 of Ukraine’s 27 regions.

    More: Biden lets Ukraine launch long-range missiles at Russia. What does this mean for war?

    More than 160 countries have signed a 1997 treaty banning the production, use, stockpiling and transfer of weapons – but neither the United States nor Russia has signed it.

    Even though non-persistent landmines have mechanisms to defuse their triggering after a period of time, they still contain explosives that pose a danger to civilians for years to come, or can be used in improvised explosive devices, depending on the humanitarian and arms control organizations. . Some have historically failed to deactivate – one Government Accountability Report nearly 2,000 of them failed to self-destruct during the 1990-91 Gulf War.

    Between 1999 and 2023, more than 45,000 people worldwide were killed by landmines and more than 109,000, according to last year Landmine Monitor Report. The vast majority of victims – 80% – were civilians and 43% were children.

    In 2023, Ukraine was the second country in the world to suffer the highest number of landmine casualties, behind Syria. Antipersonnel landmines have caused more civilian casualties in Ukraine than any other type of landmine or explosive remnants, according to International amnesty.

    Umito
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