Lifting the ban on anti-personnel mines: Rada supports withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention

The Verkhovna Rada has supported Ukraine's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines. This was reported by MP from Holos Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

299 MPs voted for withdrawal from the treaty, while 305 voted for the urgent signing of this decision by the head of the parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk. Not a single MP pressed the "against" and "abstain" buttons, and 35 MPs did not vote at all.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree to withdraw from the Convention on June 29. At the same time, the head of state noted that Russia had never been a party to the treaty and "uses anti-personnel mines in an extremely cynical manner."

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that the document restricts Ukraine's right to self-defense and at the time of accession to the agreement, there were no circumstances of Russian aggression. The ministry emphasized that Moscow uses such mines on a massive scale and has gained an asymmetric advantage due to this.

Draft law on withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention was submitted to the Rada on July 11.

• In addition to Ukraine, other neighbors of the Russian Federation have decided to withdraw from the Convention – Poland and Finland, as well as Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Lithuania and Finland are going to organize the production of such weapons and become suppliers to Ukraine.
• The use of anti-personnel mines is criticized by some humanitarian organizations as "an uncivilized means of warfare".
• Among the countries that have not joined the Ottawa Convention are the United States, China, India, Pakistan.