Ukraine on track to withdraw from Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Jun 29, 2025 2:04 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree connected the country's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the accumulation and usage of anti-personnel mines, the statesmanlike website said connected Sunday.

Ukraine ratified the normal successful 2005.

"Support the connection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to retreat Ukraine from the Convention connected the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and connected their Destruction of September 18, 1997," the decree, published connected Zelenskyy's website, stated.

A elder Ukrainian lawmaker, Roman Kostenko, said that parliamentary support is inactive needed to retreat from the treaty.

"This is simply a measurement that the world of warfare has agelong demanded. Russia is not a enactment to this Convention and is massively utilizing mines against our subject and civilians," Kostenko, caput of the Ukrainian parliament's committee connected nationalist security, defence and intelligence, said connected his Facebook page.

"We cannot stay tied down successful an situation wherever the force has nary restrictions," helium added, saying that the legislative determination indispensable definitively reconstruct Ukraine's close to efficaciously support its territory.

Ukraine's overseas affairs ministry said successful a connection posted to its website connected Sunday that Russia's usage of anti-personnel mines "has created an asymmetric vantage for the aggressor."

"We stress that astatine the clip of Ukraine's signing and ratification of the Ottawa Convention, specified circumstances did not beryllium and could not person been foreseen," the connection said.

In March, a associated connection from the defence ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia recommended withdrawing from the landmine ban, citing the rising menace from Russia and its state Belarus arsenic the reason.

Russia has intensified its violative operations successful Ukraine successful caller months, utilizing important superiority successful manpower.

Kostenko did not accidental erstwhile the contented would beryllium debated successful parliament.