Russia's Response, Ukraine Will Withdraw From Anti-personnel Mine Agreement

JAKARTA - President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said he had signed a Ukrainian withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines, as a necessary step given Russia's tactics in their 40-month war.

Convention on the Exhibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction or Convention Ottawa was agreed on December 3, 1997. Ukraine ratified the convention in 2005.

Other countries bordering Russia, especially Finland, Poland, and the three fractional Baltic states of the Soviet Union - Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - have withdrawn from the convention or indicated they would.

President Zelensky said in his evening video address Russia was never a party to the convention "and used highly cynical anti-personnel mines" along with other weapons, including ballistic missiles.

"This is a characteristic of Russian killer. Destroying life in every way they have. We see how our European neighbors react to this threat," he said.

"We also know the complexity of troop withdrawal procedures during the war. We are taking this political step and signaling our political partners about what to focus on. This concerns all countries bordering Russia," he said.

Antipersonnel mines, President Zelensky continued, are "often instruments that cannot be replaced by anything for defense purposes."

Russia is known to use anti-personnel mines widely in some areas of Ukraine where its troops operate. Ukraine sees the clearing of the mine as a key element in postwar recovery.

A series on the president's website called for support for a proposal by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to "attract Ukraine from the Convention on the Prohibition of Use, Hoarding, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines as well as on its Destruction on September 18, 1997."

Meanwhile, Secretary of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Committee for National Security, Defense and Intelligence Roman Kostenko, said parliamentary approval was still needed to withdraw from the agreement.

"This is a long-standing step demanded by the reality of war. Russia is not a party to this Convention and is massively using mines against the military and our civilians," Kostenko said on his Facebook account.

"We cannot continue to be confined in an environment where the enemy has no boundaries," he added, saying the legislative decision should definitively restore Ukraine's right to effectively defend its territory.

Kostenko himself did not say when the matter would be discussed in parliament.