By the time the shooting stops the UN predicts that Ukraine will be one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world. Deaths caused by landmines and other unexploded ordnance are now common. According to Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, in March alone, “724 people have been blown up on Russian mines, 226 of them killed”.
The use of landmines is illegal under international law. The Anti-personnel Landmine Convention bans the stockpiling, transfer and use of anti-personnel landmines, requires countries to clear them on their territory and calls for international cooperation in mine clearance from affected countries.
The extensive and fast-moving battlelines in Ukraine (including large areas in the east of the country occupied by Russian troops and their allies since 2014) means that landmines have been planted in 11 out of the country’s 27 regions. This is a situation that changes significantly with any shift in the location of frontlines.
