U.S. to allow Ukraine to use antipersonnel mines against Russian tros – Austin

That is according to AP, Ukrinform reports.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to Laos, Austin said the shift in Washington’s picy on antipersonnel land mines for Ukraine flows changing tactics by the Russians.

According to Austin, Russian ground tros are leading the movement on the battlefield, rather than forces more protected in armored carriers, so Ukraine has “a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians.”

“They (Russian forces – ed.) they have been fighting, they’ve kind of changed their tactics a bit,” Austin said, CNN reports.  

“The land mines that we would look to provide them would be land mines that are not persistent, you know, we can contr when they would self-activate, self-detonate and that makes it far more safer eventually than the things that they are creating on their own,” Austin said.

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The US expects Ukraine to use these antipersonnel mines to bster defensive lines within sovereign Ukrainian territory, not as an offensive capability in Russia. The US has also sought assurances that Ukraine will try to limit the risk to civilians from the mines.

As Ukrinform earlier reported, The Washington Post, citing U.S. administration officials, wrote yesterday that U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the provision of American antipersonnel mines to Ukraine.