Human Rights Watch stated today that Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine used prohibited antipersonnel mines in the eastern Kharkiv area.
On March 28, 2022, Ukrainian explosive ordnance disposal specialists discovered the antipersonnel mines. Russia is reported to have these recently placed landmines, which may kill and maim people indiscriminately within a 16-meter radius. Ukraine lacks both this type of landmine and its delivery method.
The worldwide Mine Ban Treaty of 1997 outright prohibits the use, manufacturing, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel mines. Russia is not one of the 164 countries that have signed up to the pact.
This new deployment of antipersonnel mines, however, is an unusual occurrence in which a nation that is not a signatory to the 1997 Mine Ban Pact employs the weapon on the territory of a party to the treaty. Ukraine ratified the ban treaty on February 24, 1999, and officially became a state party on June 1, 2006.
Russia employs a newly designed type of mine known as POM-3, also known as “Medallion,” which is fitted with a seismic sensor that detects an approaching human and ejects an explosive charge into the air. According to the minimal information available publicly about this landmine, the following detonation of the charge and metal particles it projects can inflict death and injuries within a 16-meter radius.
According to reports, the POM-3 is fitted with a self-destruct system that explodes the mine after a certain period of time, such as hours or days after deployment.
Russia informed the United Nations General Assembly in November 2020 that it “shares the treaty’s aims and supports a world free of mines,” but sees antipersonnel mines as “an efficient method of preserving the security of Russia’s borders.”
Human Rights Watch has recorded the deployment of antipersonnel mines of Soviet/Russian provenance in over 30 countries, including Syria (2011-2019), Ukraine (2014-2015), and Libya (2020), frequently coinciding with Russian military engagement as a participant in those wars.
DIDE condemns Russia’s deployment of antipersonnel mines in Ukraine. It is a deliberate violation of the international norm prohibiting the use of these horrible weapons.
Countries throughout the globe should strongly condemn Russia’s use of prohibited antipersonnel landmines in Ukraine. These weapons make no distinction between soldiers and civilians, and they leave a lethal legacy for years to come.
