U.S. President Joe Biden has approved the provision of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Nov. 20.
The decision is expected to help slow down Russia's advance in the east of the country.
The move follows the Biden administration's authorization of the use of U.S.-made long-range missiles to strike Russian territory. Kyiv has not officially confirmed the claims, but recent reports indicate Ukraine deployed U.S. ATACMS missiles in Russia's Bryansk Oblast.
The transfer of anti-personnel mines could be controversial, as it contradicts the Ottawa Convention, also known as the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, which has been signed by more than 160 countries. Russia and the U.S. are not signatories to this initiative.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Washington has been supplying Kyiv with anti-tank mines, while Ukrainian forces have been looking for opportunities to obtain infantry mines over the past three years. Moscow has used anti-personnel mines without restriction at the front line, hampering the progress of the Ukrainian military.
Biden was reluctant to supply Ukraine with mines due to doubts in his administration and the risk to civilians. Yet Washington is now concerned about Russia's rapid advance in eastern Ukraine and sees the need to halt it, U.S. officials told the WP.
"Russia is attacking Ukrainian lines in the east with waves of troops, regardless of the casualties that they're suffering," one of the officials said.
"So, the Ukrainians are obviously taking losses, and more towns and cities are at risk of falling. These mines were made specifically to combat exactly this."
One U.S. official described the mines for Ukraine as "non-resistant," meaning that they self-destruct or lose battery power to render them inactive within days or weeks, reducing the danger to civilians, the WP reported.
The official said Kyiv had committed to not installing these mines in densely populated areas.
Irynka Hromotska
