US Approves Sending Anti-personnel Landmines to Ukraine, Despite Previous Hesitations
The Biden administration has approved the provision of anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine, marking a significant policy shift and raising concerns among anti-mine campaigners, Al Jazeera reports.
The decision, first reported by the Washington Post, reverses President Biden’s previous reluctance to supply such weapons due to civilian casualty risks.
A US official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, confirmed the decision, stating that the US expects Ukraine to use the mines solely within its own borders and to avoid deploying them in civilian-populated areas. The official emphasized that the mines provided are “non-persistent,” meaning they contain a battery that powers the detonation mechanism and will self-deactivate after a set period.
The move comes as Ukraine seeks to counter recent advances by Russian forces and Kyev’s first reported use of US-supplied ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) missiles to strike targets inside Russia. This action, authorized by President Biden, prompted a strong rebuke from Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking at the G20 summit in Brazil, characterized the ATACMS strikes as a qualitative escalation of the conflict and warned of a corresponding Russian response.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. Adding to the growing crisis, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the decades-old US-Russia hotline designed to prevent nuclear conflict is currently inactive. This hotline, established in 1963 following the Cuban Missile Crisis, allows for direct communication between US and Russian leaders to mitigate misunderstandings.
Russian diplomats have drawn parallels between the current situation and the Cuban Missile Crisis, suggesting that the West misjudges Russia’s resolve regarding Ukraine and that Moscow will not back down.
