President Joe Biden has authorized the provision of anti-personnel land mines to Ukraine, a U.S. official told Reuters, marking a strategic move intended to slow Russian advances in Ukraine’s eastern regions. The mines are expected to complement other munitions supplied by the United States.
The United States has stipulated that Ukraine use the mines solely within its own territory and avoid deploying them in areas populated by civilians, the official said. This development was first reported by The Washington Post. Neither Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office nor its defense ministry, the Russian defense ministry, or the Kremlin immediately responded to requests for comment.
While the United States has previously supplied Ukraine with anti-tank mines, the introduction of anti-personnel mines aims to counter Russian ground troop advances more effectively. The U.S.-provided mines are "non-persistent," meaning they deactivate after a preset period. According to the official, these mines require a battery to detonate and become inert once the battery is depleted, distinguishing them from Russia’s more traditional land mines.
This comes shortly after Ukraine deployed U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles to strike targets in Russian territory, following new permissions granted by Biden's outgoing administration. The strike, occurring on the war’s 1,000th day, targeted Russian positions in what Ukraine described as a necessary response to ongoing aggression.
Moscow has condemned the use of ATACMS, the longest-range missiles the U.S. has provided to Ukraine, interpreting it as an intentional escalation by the West. On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin lowered the threshold for initiating a nuclear strike, allowing for such action in response to a broader range of conventional attacks.
This shift follows repeated warnings from Moscow that if the West permitted Ukraine to use U.S., British, or French missiles to strike deep into Russian territory, Russia would consider those NATO nations to be directly involved in the conflict.
