President Joe Biden has approved providing anti-personnel land mines to Ukraine, a U.S. official told Reuters.
A strictly defensive weapon, Biden seems determined to frontload help to Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office in January.
Already, the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed to a TASS correspondent that the administration had authorized the use of antipersonnel landmines in Ukraine.
“I can confirm that the administration has approved use of antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine,” a Pentagon official said, commenting on the Washington Post report.
The official said the Ukrainian side had committed to not using the mines in areas populated by civilians.
He also explained that these were non-persistent mines which become inert after a preset period of time.
Earlier, The Washington Post reported that Biden authorized the delivery of antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine, reversing his administration’s earlier policy that banned the transfer and use of US antipersonnel landmines outside the Korean Peninsula.
