U.S. to allow Ukraine to use antipersonnel mines against Russian troops - Austin

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed on Wednesday that the Biden administration will allow Ukraine to use American-supplied antipersonnel land mines.

That is according to AP, Ukrinform reports.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to Laos, Austin said the shift in Washington’s policy on antipersonnel land mines for Ukraine follows changing tactics by the Russians.

According to Austin, Russian ground troops are leading the movement on the battlefield, rather than forces more protected in armored carriers, so Ukraine has “a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians.”

“They (Russian forces – ed.) they have been fighting, they’ve kind of changed their tactics a bit,” Austin said, CNN reports.  

“The land mines that we would look to provide them would be land mines that are not persistent, you know, we can control when they would self-activate, self-detonate and that makes it far more safer eventually than the things that they are creating on their own,” Austin said.

The US expects Ukraine to use these antipersonnel mines to bolster defensive lines within sovereign Ukrainian territory, not as an offensive capability in Russia. The US has also sought assurances that Ukraine will try to limit the risk to civilians from the mines.

As Ukrinform earlier reported, The Washington Post, citing U.S. administration officials, wrote yesterday that U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the provision of American antipersonnel mines to Ukraine.