- Russian forces are using banned anti-personnel mines to cover their tactical withdrawal in Ukraine, Human Rights Watch said.
- The latest detection of anti-personnel mines comes as Russia claims it is reducing its attack near Kyiv.
- Experts say the use of anti-personnel mines by Russian troops as they retreat from the region shows they are not planning another major attack on Kyiv
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According to a report by Human Rights Watch, Russian forces are using banned anti-personnel mines to cover their tactical withdrawal in Ukraine.
Russia’s use of these mines shows it knows it has been defeated in the region and is not planning another attack on Kyiv, according to an expert at the Institute for the Study of War.
“If you’re laying mines everywhere, it suggests you don’t think you’re going to be back there anytime soon,” Frederick Kagan, a military scientist with the Institute for the Study of War, told Insider.
According to Kagan, the Ukrainian troops had already defeated the Russian offensive on Kyiv and started their own counter-offensive to push back the Russian troops. Kagan said Russia’s announcement that it was withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian capital was “cover” to gain political capital after admitting defeat in Kyiv.
Ukrainian explosive ordnance disposal teams detected anti-personnel landmines in the eastern Kharkiv region on Monday, Human Rights Watch reported. According to Human Rights Watch, the deadly POM-3 mines can injure people up to 50 feet away. The mines – which the group said “kill and maim indiscriminately” – are not used by the Ukrainian military and have reportedly been rigged to self-destruct if not activated for a period of time.
Russia – and the US – did not agree to the 1997 international mine ban treaty. Ukraine signed the treaty in 1999 and became a state party in 2005. It has used defensive mines for roadblocks in Kyiv.
Mines are lined up at a roadblock in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Pavlo Bagmut/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Kagan told insiders photos showed the Russians laying mines indiscriminately rather than digging and laying them deep.
“They are laying mines to delay the Ukrainian offensive so they can withdraw their troops,” Kagan said. “From what I’ve seen, they’re doing this so hastily that I think the demining process will be much less complicated than in areas where deep minefields have been laid.”