Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced his country might soon quit the Ottawa Treaty banning antipersonnel landmines amid his country’s war with Russia.
“Russia has never been a party to this convention and uses antipersonnel mines with extreme cynicism,” he said on Sunday.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4
Russia kills 5 in Ukraine’s Samar, as Putin seems ready for new peace talks
list 2 of 4
Ukraine says Russia took 20,000 children during war. Will some be returned?
list 3 of 4
Russia hits Ukraine with record 479-drone strike ahead of POW swap
list 4 of 4
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,214
end of list
This was not a mere rhetorical flourish. In August 2023, Russian soldiers booby-trapped the bodies of their fallen comrades with anti-personnel mines as they retreated to kill the Ukrainian sappers who discovered them.
Ukraine needs to even the battlefield, Zelenskyy said, because “antipersonnel mines … very often have no alternative as a tool for defence.”
What is the special role of antipersonnel landmines? Why are they banned in many countries? Why is Ukraine leaving the treaty now, and what will that allow it to do in its own defence?
What is the Ottawa Treaty?
The Ottawa Treaty of December 1997 bans the use of anti-personnel landmines, as well as the ability to “develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, anti-personnel mines”.
The treaty has been ratified by more than 160 countries and is part of the body of international law enshrined in the United Nations. As its name suggests, it aims to abolish landmines.
Major powers like China, Russia and the United States have never signed it although the US did agree to stop stockpiling antipersonnel landmines under President Barack Obama, a move reversed by his successor Donald Trump.
The rationale behind banning landmines is that they are indiscriminate killers.