Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on the country's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines, the Ukrainian presidency announced on its official website, quoted by Reuters, BTA reports.
Ukraine ratified the international treaty in 2005. Now the presidential decree approves the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to withdraw from the Convention of September 18, 1997, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines, and obliges them to be destroyed.
The secretary of the parliamentary committee on national security, deputy Roman Kostenko, indicated that the decision must also be approved by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament).
“This is a step that the realities of war have long required. Russia is not a party to the Convention and massively uses mines against our soldiers and civilians,“ he wrote on Facebook. “We cannot remain with our hands tied when the enemy acts without any restrictions.“
Kostenko added that the parliament must make the appropriate decision to fully restore Ukraine's right to defend its territory.
In recent months, Russia has significantly intensified its military operations in Ukraine, taking advantage of numerical superiority in manpower.
It was not specified when exactly the Verkhovna Rada will consider the issue.