The Biden administration has approved the use of landmines in Ukraine. The move follows Biden approving long-range missiles for use in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The landmines will reportedly only be deployed in Ukrainian territory.
More than 160 countries signed the Ottawa Treaty in 1997, which prohibited using antipersonnel landmines. Neither the United States nor Russia signed the treaty.
The New York Times reported that the mines are “planted by hand but can also be scattered remotely with rockets or drones behind opponents’ lines, to catch soldiers as they move to and from positions, a tactic that can assist an offensive.” The report added that most antipersonnel mines are “small explosives about the size of a hockey puck that are triggered by the pressure of a footstep.”
According to The Washington Post, however, the mines given to Ukraine are “nonpersistent,” meaning the mines self-destruct within days or weeks.
“Russia is attacking Ukrainian lines in the east with waves of troops, regardless of the casualties that they’re suffering,” an official told The Washington Post. “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.”
American Faith reported that Russia updated its nuclear doctrine, aimed at “ensuring that a potential adversary understands the inevitability of retaliation in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.
The White House said, “As we said earlier this month, we were not surprised by Russia’s announcement that it would update its nuclear doctrine; Russia had been signaling its intent to update its doctrine for several weeks,” a National Security Council spokesperson said in response to the development. “Observing no changes to Russia’s nuclear posture, we have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture or doctrine in response to Russia’s statements today.”
