US President Joe Biden has approved provision of anti-personnel land mines to Ukraine, a US official has said, potentially handing a major boost to Kyiv’s war-weary forces.
That’s according to an unnamed US official cited by Reuters, in move that could help slow the advance of Putin’s troops in the east of Ukraine, especially when used along with other munitions provided by Washington.
The US expects Ukraine to use the mines within its own territory and Kyiv has committed not to use them in areas populated with its own civilians, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
This development in the conflict, which has raged on since Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, was first reported by The Washington Post.
Ukraine and Moscow, as well as their respective defense ministries, are yet to comment.
The US has been providing Ukraine with anti-tank mines throughout the war, but the addition of anti-personnel mines aims at blunting the advance of the Kremlin’s ground troops, the official said.
Unlike Russia’s mines, the one’s being provided by the US are “non-persistent,” becoming inert after a preset period, as per the insider. They require a battery to explode, and won’t do so once the battery has run out.
Ukrainian media has said Kyiv used US ATACMS rockets to strike inside Russia for the first time just as Vladimir Putin approved a new Russian nuclear doctrine.
Explosions were reportedly seen at an ammunition depot in Karachev, some 75 miles from the Ukrainian border, as Kyiv marked the 1000th day of the conflict to use the missiles in an offensive capacity for the first time.
The Kremlin has branded Biden’s decision to permit Ukraine to strike into Russia an “escalation” as it once more attempted to use its nuclear capabilities to intimidate Kyiv’s Western allies.
Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, said on Tuesday: “The Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression against it with the use of conventional weapons.”
The Russian President has issued a decree allowing Russian nuclear weapons to be deployed against a non-nuclear force if it was backed up by a nuclear-armed nation – for example, Ukraine backed by the United States.
It comes after months of warnings that if the US allowed Ukraine to launch American, British and French missiles deep into Russia, Moscow would consider the NATO members directly involved in the conflict.
It is understood that strikes in Russia will require US permission before launch and will predominately be targeted towards North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region, as Russia pushes Kyiv’s offensive there backwards.
