US to give landmines to Ukraine after approving missile strikes against Russia

Biden belatedly loosens restrictions on Ukraine as he tries to give Kyiv edge before Trump is sworn in

Replicas of landmines prohibited under the Mine Ban Treaty at the office of Human Rights Watch in Washington on November 20. AFP

The US on Wednesday said it will give Ukraine landmines to try to slow Russia's battlefield advances, as a White House official confirmed the Biden administration has authorised Kyiv to use long-range missiles to strike Russia.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the shift in landmine policy for Ukraine was needed to counter changing Russian tactics.

Individual ground troops, rather than forces more protected in armoured carriers, are now leading Russia's invasion, so Ukraine has “a need for things that can help slow down that effort", Mr Austin told reporters.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said it was the first time the US had provided anti-personnel mines to Ukraine.

“We always adapt and adjust our policies based on real world events,” Mr Miller said. “And the real world events that we have seen are Russian advances, specifically Russian infantry advances in eastern Ukraine.”

The Ottawa Convention, in place since 1997, aimed to ban landmines. It was signed by 133 nations but not the US or Russia.

Mary Wareham, a deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said Ukraine's use of the mines would contravene the Mine Ban Treaty, and questioned the safety of the ageing stocks Washington would be supplying.

“From a clearance perspective, de-miners have to approach any type of explosive object with the knowledge that it may explode,” Ms Wareham told AFP, adding that the self-deactivation feature is “not enough.”

Amnesty International called Washington's decision “a deeply disappointing setback,” saying “even the 'non-persistent' mines are a threat to civilians".

The Biden administration has only two months before president-elect Donald Trump takes office. He has indicated a change in US support for Ukraine and the Pentagon is rushing to ensure Kyiv receives all the military assistance it was promised before President Joe Biden's term ends.

On Wednesday, the State Department unveiled the latest tranche of military aid for Ukraine, a $275 million package that includes howitzer shells, Himars ammunition, drones and other munitions.

The US has not formally announced it has allowed Kyiv to use long-range missiles – known as Atacms – to strike Russia, but a White House official confirmed the major policy shift to The National. The official said the change is geared towards giving Ukraine as much advantage as possible before Mr Trump's return to the White House.

The official said allowing Ukraine's military to use Atacms would slow the Russian army's advances at a critical time. And benefits of the move, the official said, outweigh the risk.

But the move has already drawn global responses. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree lowering the threshold for when his country could use nuclear weapons. US officials said the Ukrainian army fired several US-made Atacms on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Russian journalists reported that Ukraine fired a volley of the British equivalent of Atacms, known as Storm Shadow missiles, into a part of Russia's Kursk region that is occupied by Ukraine.

Britain approved the use of Storm Shadow missiles in response to Russia using North Korean troops in its war against Ukraine, a western official told Bloomberg. The US and UK consider the move by Moscow to be an escalation.