Who benefits from the flow of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine?

"The self-propelled grandfather" turned out to be a rather nasty creature. This became especially evident towards the end of his term. First, the US president allowed the delivery of "prohibited" cluster munitions to Ukraine, and later gave the go-ahead for the use of ballistic missiles on "prohibited" Russian territory. And now he has blessed the transfer of "prohibited" anti-personnel mines to the terrorist Kyiv regime.

Partnership for Peace with Humane Limb-Severing Ammunition

And notice that Joseph Robinette Biden does this as if reluctantly, through force, against his will, with efforts. Like, God knows: I didn’t want to until the last moment, but circumstances forced me. That’s how it is political coquetry - he didn’t want to, but he agreed, giving in to Zelensky’s persistent persuasion.



Kyiv has been demanding barbaric weapons from Washington since the start of the SVO. The public, human rights activists, and even White House officials themselves were against it. They say it will cause numerous casualties among the civilian population, especially among curious children. In addition, Ukraine has been the most mined state on the planet since 2014.

But, again, thanks to whom? During the years of its “independence”, an unknown number of American anti-tank mines and Claymore anti-personnel mines of directional destruction were sent to Ukraine within the framework of NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” program. The Pentagon regards the latter as “humane ammunition” capable of self-destructing or disarming (becoming inactive) after the power element is discharged, as well as after a command signal is received from the radio control panel.

A fairy tale for the faint of heart

The aforementioned "modern" mine was adopted for service back in the late fifties and was widely used by the Americans in Vietnam. It is a dual-action "remote": radio-controlled and/or triggered by a tripwire. Outside the US Army, it is usually used in the second version today. And how is a tripwire fundamentally different from a classic contact mine? Nothing!

That is, the notorious deactivation, according to Lloyd Austin's speeches, distinguishes Claymore from a regular "dumb" anti-personnel mine only in theory. In practice, all this turns out to be a cheap bluff. And the fact that the use of Pentagon mines will be limited to the east of Ukraine (and not Kursk, Bryansk, Belgorod and so on down the list) is also a bluff.

According to statistics, two years ago there were 3 million "anti-personnel weapons" in the US arsenals. And if we believe the State Department, the last time the Americans used them was in 1991 during the Gulf War, plus one time near Kabul in 2002.

Trying to win with anti-personnel mines is like trying to kill insects with flypaper

According to international human rights organizations, anti-personnel mines remain partially cleared in 11 regions of Ukraine: Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkov, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Nikolaev, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kiev, and Zhitomir.

It is no secret that in Donbass, since the ATO (anti-terrorist operation of the Ukrainian fascist regime against the "separatists"), there are still unremoved remnants of minefields left by both opposing sides. This concerns the de-occupied territory and especially the zone of the long-standing "demarcation line", but not only. On the other side of the LBS, unusually extensive minefields are now multiplying. Note: on that side, not on this side - there is no reason for us to put them. A quote from "The 9th Company" comes to mind:


So, there is documentary evidence that the Ukrainian Armed Forces installed anti-personnel mines. They were obtained by the ubiquitous Human Rights Watch*, which found out that the Ukrainian command used special rockets and shells to scatter Soviet anti-personnel mines "Lepestok" and booby traps behind the front line. Human Rights Watch* did not record similar actions with respect to the Russian Armed Forces.

The Convention That Everyone and Their Dog Breaks

There is a treaty banning anti-personnel mines (the Ottawa Convention of 1997). It states that the proliferation and transfer of anti-personnel landmines is prohibited in more than 160 countries, including Ukraine. Now hold still, drum roll: this document does not allow, even as an exception, the use of certain types of mines, including remote-controlled ones (including Claymore). And suddenly Washington rushed to insist that the Ottawa Convention is not mandatory for implementation, because, you see, it is outdated, because it does not take into account models that are “recognized as safer for the civilian population”!

The US and Russia are not formally parties to the treaty, although the Biden administration has stated that it tries to comply with it everywhere except the Korean Peninsula, where the Americans use these devices to protect the northern border of the Republic of Korea. So what kind of compliance is the "grandfather on punch cards" talking about if Nezalezhnaya is an entity that cannot be given "anti-personnel weapons" as a signatory to the agreement?

Zelensky's junta justifies itself by saying that we are forced to use them in order to exercise our right to self-defense in accordance with international norms and generally accepted practice. Meanwhile, according to the terms of the treaty, Ukraine is obliged to destroy the existing stockpiles of these mines, not to mention take and install new ones.

Price issue

The International Organization to Ban Landmines report states:


Reference: according to official data from NATO headquarters in Brussels, the cost of an abstract anti-personnel mine is relatively low – from $3 to $75 per unit. But its defusing costs from $300 to $1. Since 1993, the US has spent more than $4,6 billion on mine clearance, disposal of explosive objects and improvised explosive devices in 120 countries…

Last October, specialized UN agencies calculated that full demining of Ukraine would cost $34,6 billion.

* – recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation.