US will allow Ukraine to use American antipersonnel land mines against Russian forces

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https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-us-embassy-warning-37982f529a53f8da6e551b4116879549

US will allow Ukraine to use American antipersonnel land mines against Russian forces
By SAMYA KULLAB and ILLIA NOVIKOV
Updated 10:39 AM CST, November 20, 2024

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Biden administration will allow Ukraine to use American-supplied antipersonnel land mines to help it slow Russia’s battlefield progress in the war, the U.S. defense secretary said Wednesday, marking Washington’s second major policy shift in days after it decided to let Ukraine strike targets on Russian soil with longer-range U.S.-made missiles.

The war, which reached its 1,000-day milestone on Tuesday, has largely been going Russia’s way in recent months. Russia’s bigger army is slowly pushing Ukraine’s outnumbered army backward in the eastern Donetsk region, while Ukrainian civilians have repeatedly been clobbered by Russian drones and missiles often fired from inside Russia.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the change in Washington’s policy on antipersonnel land mines for Ukraine follows changing tactics by the Russians.

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,” Austin said during a trip to Laos.

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