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Amnesty International slams US decision to send anti-personnel mines to Kiev as reckless

The statement further urges Washington to rethink its position to "protect civilians from the indiscriminate harm that will certainly result from the use of these landmines"

NEW YORK, November 21. /TASS/. The human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the US decision to transfer anti-personnel landmines to Kiev, calling it reckless and warning it will lead to civilian casualties, said Ben Linden, Advocacy Director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International USA.

"This is a reckless decision and a deeply disappointing setback for President [Joe Biden] who once agreed that landmines put more civilians at increased risk of harm. It is devastating, and frankly shocking," Linden stated in a message on the Amnesty International website. According to Linden, these landmines "are inherently indiscriminate weapons that maim and kill civilians long after conflicts end and shouldn’t have a place in the arsenal of any country."

The statement further urges Washington to rethink its position to "protect civilians from the indiscriminate harm that will certainly result from the use of these landmines."

The Pentagon confirmed that the US administration had authorized the deployment of anti-personnel landmines in Ukraine. The ministry clarified that this concerns non-persistent mines, which become inert over time.

In a separate report, The Washington Post disclosed that President Biden had approved sending anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine, reversing a 2022 policy that had limited their use outside the Korean Peninsula.

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