The Biden administration has approved the shipment of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine for the first time, in another major policy shift, according to two US officials. The decision comes just days after the US gave the ‘green light’ for Ukraine to fire long-range US missiles at targets in Russia, after months of pressure from Kiev.
The US wants Kiev to use anti-personnel mines in the eastern region of the country, where Russian troops have made slow and steady progress against Ukrainian defensive lines. The grueling battle cost Moscow dearly, with Ukraine claiming that Russia suffered its highest number of casualties this week. But relentless pressure from Russia, coupled with shortages of Ukrainian manpower and ammunition, allowed the Russian military to gradually conquer more territory.
The US expects Ukraine to use these anti-personnel mines to reinforce defensive lines within Ukrainian territory, not as an offensive capability within Russia, and wants assurances that Ukraine will try to limit the risk to civilians from these mines.
The decision of the North American administration was advanced by the Washington Post.
From the first days of the war, the US supplied Ukraine with anti-tank mines to weaken Russia’s numerical superiority in armored vehicles. But so far, the Biden administration has not provided antipersonnel mines to Ukraine, citing concerns about the long-term danger they could pose. Human rights organizations have been criticizing the use of anti-personnel mines, warning that they can kill indiscriminately and can remain armed for several years after the end of the conflict.
In June 2022 – four months after the outbreak of war in Ukraine – the Biden administration promised to limit the use of anti-personnel mines. In announcing the decision, which was a reversal of the previous administration of Donald Trump Trump, the White House justified it with the “need to restrict the use of anti-personnel mines around the world”. The US said it would not develop or export any more anti-personnel mines and promised to destroy all existing stockpiles. (The only exception to the policy was South Korea.)
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The announcement to send anti-personnel mines to Ukraine, especially at a time when there are only a few weeks left in the Biden administration, is a sudden change in what has been long-standing policy.
The type of mines the US will send to Ukraine will be “non-persistent,” according to US sources, meaning they have a built-in mechanism to shorten the life of the trigger. The mines are designed to become unusable after a set period of time, ranging from four hours to two weeks. Mines are made up of an electrical fuse that requires a battery, so they become unusable once the battery runs out.
Russia has deployed anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines since the early days of the war. As Russian forces advanced into Ukraine and established their own defensive lines, they created minefields to delay any Ukrainian counterattack. Last summer, as Ukrainian forces mounted a counteroffensive that ultimately failed, a Ukrainian officer described the density of Russian mines as “crazy.”
