Zelenskiy’s directive indicates that Ukraine is on course to withdraw from the Ottawa anti-personnel mines convention

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that he had signed an order to remove Ukraine from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the production and use of anti-personnel mines. He said that this was necessary because of how Russia has been fighting their 40-month-long war.

In 2005, Ukraine signed on to the agreement.

Other countries that near Russia, like Finland, Poland, and the three Baltic states that used to be part of the Soviet Union (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), have either left the convention or said they would.

In his evening video address, Zelenskiy said that Russia had never been a part of the agreement and “is using anti-personnel mines with the utmost cynicism” along with other weapons, such as ballistic missiles.

“This is something that Russian killers always do.” The goal is to kill people with any means possible. “We will see how our European neighbors respond to this threat,” he said.

“We also know how hard it is to go through the withdrawal process when there is a war going on.” This is a political move that tells our political friends what they need to work on. “This affects all countries that are close to Russia,” he said.

Zelenskiy said that anti-personnel mines are “often the instrument for defense purposes for which nothing can be substituted.”

Russia has used a lot of anti-personnel bombs in parts of Ukraine where its troops have been stationed. Ukraine sees getting rid of these mines as an important part of getting back on its feet after the war.

In an order posted on the president’s website, it is asked that people back a plan by the Ukrainian foreign ministry to “withdraw Ukraine from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of September 18, 1997.”

Roman Kostenko, a top Ukrainian lawmaker, said that the parliament still had to agree to leave the treaty before it could be executed.

“The reality of war has long called for this step.” “Russia is not a party to this Convention and is using mines against our military and civilians in large numbers,” Kostenko wrote on his Facebook page. He is the secretary of the committee on national security, defense, and intelligence in the Ukrainian parliament.

“We can’t stay stuck in a place where the enemy has no limits,” he said, adding that the parliamentary decision had to give Ukraine the right to defend its own land once and for all.

In the past few months, Russia has stepped up its offensive activities in Ukraine, using its large advantage in manpower.

Costiko didn’t say when the problem would be talked about in parliament.