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U.S. to Supply Landmines to Ukraine
December 2024
By Doniyor Mutalov
U.S. President Joe Biden approved plans to supply Ukraine with anti-personnel landmines, changing his administration’s policy barring such transfers and violating the global norm against their use.
U.S. officials argue that landmines would bolster Ukrainian defenses against Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Ukrainians “have a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a press briefing on Nov. 20 while traveling in Laos. Austin attempted to address concerns about the humanitarian impact of the landmines by asserting that the United States will provide nonpersistent anti-personnel landmines that are designed to self-destruct.
In a briefing on Nov. 22 at the White House, senior officials said the decision was designed to thwart Russia's increasing reliance on infantry to attack Ukrainian defensive positions.
The decision to supply landmines to Ukraine is a change to U.S. policy adopted in 2022 that prohibits any transfer or export of U.S. landmines and bars their use anywhere except the Korean peninsula. (See ACT, July/August 2022.) The policy also indicated the intention of the United States to “undertake diligent efforts to pursue materiel and operational solutions to assist in becoming compliant with and ultimately acceding to the Ottawa Convention.” The 2022 policy restricted the broader use of landmines permitted by the Trump administration in 2020. At the time, Biden described the Trump administration’s stance on landmines as “reckless.”
The 1997 Ottawa Convention, also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, outlaws the production, use, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines worldwide. As of November, there are 164 states-parties to the treaty, representing more than 80 percent of the world’s states. Ukraine ratified the treaty in 2005, but Russia and the United States are not signatories.
Russia’s relentless use of landmines in the war has already made the conflict zone in Ukraine one of the most heavily mined areas in the world, and the supply of landmines by the United States will very likely exacerbate the contamination.
By acquiring or using anti-personnel landmines, Ukraine will violate its obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty. Ukraine cannot withdraw from the treaty before acquiring landmines because the treaty bars withdrawal if a state-party is engaged in armed conflict. A decision to withdraw would only enter into effect after the end of the Russian war against Ukraine.
The fifth review conference of the Mine Ban Treaty will take place in Cambodia Nov. 25-29 and will be attended by representatives of the United States and Ukraine.