Anti-mine treaty signatories slam US decision to send mines to Ukraine

SIEM REAP

Washington's decision to give anti-personnel mines to Ukraine is the biggest blow yet to a landmark anti-mine treaty, its signatories said during a meeting.

Ukraine is a signatory to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of landmines.

The United States, which has not signed up to the treaty, said last week it would transfer landmines to Ukraine to aid its efforts fighting Russia's invasion.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has called the mines "very important" to halting Russian attacks.

Ukraine receiving U.S. mine shipments would be in "direct violation" of the treaty, the convention of its signatories said in a statement released yesterday.

"In the 25 years since the Convention entered into force, this landmark humanitarian disarmament treaty had never faced such a challenge to its integrity," it said.

"The Convention community must remain united in its resolve to uphold the Convention's norms and principles."

Ukraine's delegation to a conference on progress under the anti-landmine treaty in Cambodia on Nov. 26 did not mention the U.S. offer in its remarks.

In its presentation, Ukrainian defense official Oleksandr Riabtsev said Russia was carrying out "genocidal activities" by laying landmines on its territory.

Riabtsev refused to comment when asked by AFP journalists about the U.S. landmines offer yesterday.

Ukraine's commitment to destroy its landmine stockpiles left over from the Soviet Union was also "currently not possible" due to Russia's invasion, defense ministry official Yevhenii Kivshyk told the conference.

Moscow and Kiev have been ratcheting up their drone and missile attacks, with Ukraine recently firing U.S. long-range missiles at Russia and the Kremlin retaliating with an experimental hypersonic missile.

The Siem Reap conference is a five-yearly meeting held by signatories to the anti-landmine treaty to assess progress in its objective towards a world without antipersonnel mines.

On Nov. 26, landmine victims from across the world gathered at the meeting to protest Washington's decision.

More than 100 demonstrators lined the walkway taken by delegates to the conference venue in Cambodia's Siem Reap.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian delegation led by its defense chief was due in South Korea to meet President Yoon Suk Yeol and discuss Seoul's potential arms support for Kyiv, media reports said on Nov. 27.

The reported trip comes as South Korea signaled it could reverse a long-standing policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict following revelations that North Korea had deployed thousands of troops to aid Russia's war efforts against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian delegation, headed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, is expected to "share intelligence on North Korea's troop deployment to Russia" and seek South Korea's support for Kiev's war efforts, Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed sources.

Earlier this month Yoon said if South Korea were to supply arms, the initial batch would be defensive in nature.