Guterres condemns supply of anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine

UNITED NATIONS, November 25. /TASS/. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has spoken out against the use of anti-personnel landmines in the Ukraine conflict.

"Anti-personnel mines represent a clear and present danger for civilians. Even after fighting stops, these horrifying and indiscriminate weapons can remain, trapping generations of people in fear," he said in a statement, published on the UN's website.

The secretary-general also urged world leaders to join the Ottawa Convention, which bans anti-personnel landmines and has been signed by 164 nations since it came into force in 1999.

On November 20, the Pentagon confirmed to TASS that the US administration had authorized the use of anti-personnel landmines in Ukraine. On November 21, the US Defense Ministry suggested the possibility of new deliveries of anti-personnel landmines to the Kiev regime.

Earlier, The Washington Post reported that Biden authorized the delivery of antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine, reversing his administration’s earlier policy that banned the transfer and use of US antipersonnel landmines outside the Korean Peninsula. Commenting on this information, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov recalled that Kiev is a signatory to the UN convention banning anti-personnel landmines.