The images taken by drones are chilling. Moving through tall grass, Ukrainian soldiers saw the ground explode beneath their feet, which were torn away, before being targeted by artillery fire. In the summer of 2023, the millions of antipersonnel mines deployed by the Russians on their defense lines got the better of the Ukrainian breakthrough attempt in the Zaporizhia region. This sequence had demonstrated how mining remained a terribly effective tactic for slowing down a land offensive.
It is known that antipersonnel mines are among the most despicable weapons, capable of killing civilians years after the end of a conflict. As proof, a treaty banning them, the Ottawa Convention, adopted in 1997, was signed by more than 130 countries. However, they remain an essential military tool for an infantry war such as is being waged in Ukraine, in the eyes of the Russians, but also of kyiv, and now of Washington.
Hard pressed in the face of the inexorable erosion of Donbass in recent times, the Ukrainians believe they need, never again, these small mines designed to kill or maim. They therefore welcome the upcoming delivery – and for the first time – of this weapon by the United States. President Volodymyr Zelensky argued that they were “very important […] to stop Russian assaults,” while U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Ukrainians “need things that can help slow down this effort by the Russians.”
The United States has always refrained from signing the Ottawa Convention. However, they assure that their mines are very different from those of the Russians. They call them “non-persistent” because they can self-destruct or deactivate. For NGOs, this is an illusion: there is always a proportion of antipersonnel mines which remain a danger for civilians who find them on their way, once the fighting is over.
The context has changed
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a network of organizations, says they are “not 100% foolproof and require dangerous and costly mine clearance operations.” She recalls in passing that “Ukraine already has to face years of mine clearance due to the use of Russian land mines” and that “if this contamination worsens, there will be repercussions on its own population for decades.” The United Nations estimates that 407 Ukrainian civilians have died and 944 have been injured by mines and unexploded ordnance since 2022.
But the increasingly complicated context, for the Ukrainians, will have overcome the refusal, until now, of the United States to deliver antipersonnel mines. Russia recently has North Korean troops to fight the Ukrainians. In response, the White House, before the transfer of power between Joe Biden and Donald Trump who claims to be able to resolve the conflict in Ukraine in “24 hours”, authorized the Ukrainians to use its ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory. In the process, the Kremlin unveiled its new nuclear doctrine. The sequence is good for climbing. A bad signal for Ukraine.