Zelenskyy signed a decree on withdrawing from the convention on the prohibition of anti-personnel mines – source
updatedPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree on withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, storage, and production of anti-personnel mines. This was reported to LIGA.net by a source in the President's Office.
According to him, the relevant document will soon be published on the website of the Office of the President.
Earlier that same day, MP Roman Kostenko, secretary of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence, stated that Zelenskyy had signed a decree putting into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention – an international treaty prohibiting the use, stockpiling and production of anti-personnel mines.
"This is a step that the reality of the war has long demanded. Russia is not a party to this convention and is massively using mines against our military and civilians. We cannot remain bound by it when the enemy has no restrictions," the deputy commented.
Kostenko added that the deputies are now awaiting the consideration of the issue in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament).
"The legislative consolidation of this decision should definitively restore Ukraine's right to effectively defend its territory," he concluded.
The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction is an international agreement aimed at ending the use of anti-personnel mines as a means of armed conflict.
Adopted at the diplomatic conference in Oslo on September 18, 1997, and opened for signature in Ottawa on December 3-4. The Convention entered into force on March 1, 1999.
As of 2022, 164 states have ratified or acceded to the treaty, including Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada ratified the treaty back in 2005. States such as the USA, China, India, Pakistan, and Russia have not acceded to the treaty.
- On March 18, 2025, the defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland adopted a joint recommendation for their countries to denounce the Ottawa Convention of 1997.
- On March 19, the Polish Ministry of Defense announced that Warsaw plans to deploy anti-personnel mines on the border with Russia and Belarus as part of the "Eastern Shield" program.
- On June 19, the Finnish parliament supported the country's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention.
- On June 27, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia officially notified the UN of their withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use of anti-personnel mines.