Nov 19 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden has approved provision of anti-personnel land mines to Ukraine, a U.S. official told Reuters, a step that could help slow Russian advances in its east, especially when used along with other munitions from the United States.
The United States expects Ukraine to use the mines in its own territory, though it has committed not to use them in areas populated with its own civilians, the official said. The Washington Post first reported the development.
The office of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian defence ministry, the Russian defence ministry and the Kremlin did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests to comment.
The United States has provided Ukraine with anti-tank mines throughout its war with Russia, but the addition of anti-personnel mines aims at blunting the advance of Russian ground troops, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
I might reserve terms like that for, say, the perpetrators of the Bucha massacre, or for those committing ethnic cleansing on a massive scale by kidnapping children. But hey, if you prefer to apply that term to Ukranians trying not to get murdered by fascist invaders, it’s not like I can stop you.
Textbook whataboutism. Are you aware that two wrongs do NOT in fact make a right? And that crimes against humanity don’t cease to be criminal atrocities because someone did them to you first?
In other words: are you ignorant, a hypocrite, or an ignorant hypocrite when it comes to the victims of war crimes committing war crimes?
Landmines are a crime against humanity now? Jesus fucking Christ.
Yes they are. That’s why 164 countries have signed onto a treaty to ban their use.
For more information, see the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
Working to ban something means it’s a crime against humanity. Great. Alright.
Thats how crimes against humanity work. People find it so abhorrent they sign a treaty.
Not everything banned by treaty is a crime against humanity, though.
No. Got the order wrong. People are working to ban them because they’re atrocious. They’re not atrocious because people are working to ban them. Don’t pretend to be even more obtuse than you already are.
They’re atrocious because they can make areas dangerous for anyone to traverse for years if not decades, blowing the limbs off of innocent civilians or making large swaths of land uninhabitable and unavailable to farm without risking death and dismemberment.
So like all UXO that’s indiscriminately used?
Yes. “Indiscriminately” being the operative word.
Russians butchering civilians doesn’t make it ok for Ukraine to emulate them.
See? I agree. Landmines should not be used indiscriminately. Luckily, Ukraine has already pledged to not use them in civilian areas, and landmine protocols are a far fucking cry from the Vietnam era, so we’re good.
Glad to see we’re all on the same page of not demanding that victims meekly submit to genocide in the name of some nebulous and ill-defined moral high ground.
How many thousands of Ukranian lives are worth not using landmines to you? Tens of thousands?
Two wrongs don’t make a right, but if you die it doesn’t matter if you were wrong or right.
or how about this, both of them are terrible for this. i strongly support Ukraine’s right to defend its borders, but landmines belong in the far distant pass. if Russia drops a bioweapon on kyiev will we follow suit? i sure fucking hope not.
grow a spine and actually believe in something for yourself. landmines are wrong, no matter who uses them or why they are used.
This may be shocking, but landmines and bioweapons are not even close to equivalent.
i didn’t say they were equivalent, i said they’re both blights that remain in the past. terrible things that cause mass civilian casualties for decades after the conflict.
one can still be worse than the other, but anyone that uses them should be punished.