Relations between the U.S. and Russia are on a downward spiral, with recent decisions further exacerbating bilateral tensions. Among these provocative actions, one can count the Biden administration’s decision to equip Ukraine with anti-personnel mines, intensifying the conflicts involving Russian ground forces.
This recent alignment with Ukraine by the Biden administration accentuates the shaky nature of their leadership in global diplomacy. Under the guise of defense against escalating Russian incursions, American anti-personnel mines are now on Ukrainian soil. And yet, the eastern Ukrainian front lines are yielding ground, indicating a rampant failure of Biden’s foreign policy.
Indeed, this unfolding diplomatic drama between Russia, United States, and Ukraine, spearheaded by the Biden administration, simply fuels the embers of an already smoldering conflict. In a misguided display of power, the White House afforded Ukraine the capacity to attack targets within Russian borders using American missiles with extended ranges, an action enacted for the first time on a recent Tuesday.
In retaliation, Moscow has revised its military doctrine to lower the prerequisites for initiating nuclear weaponry – a dangerous ripple effect of Biden’s ill-conceived initiatives. This rash reaction from Russia is due in part to the Biden administration’s provision of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine, a response to Russia’s increased dependence on infantry, replacing their armored warfare.
Strategically, the Pentagon’s latest maneuver reeks of shortsightedness, merely responding to Russia’s evolving tactics on the ground instead of devising proactive, long-term solutions. Ukraine’s so-called ‘need’ to slow down Russian forces forms the rationale behind these decisions and yet, in reality, it seems that the Biden administration is only serving to fan the flames of conflict.
It is also clear that such knee-jerk actions are an attempt by the Biden administration to paint a picture of proactive foreign policy in its twilight weeks, in a desperate attempt to save face. With Trump returning as President following the November 5th elections, the Biden team’s purported ‘benefits’ of these actions pale in comparison to the heightening risk of escalation.
Biden’s reckless foreign policies have sparked heightened fears in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, and throughout the nation. In the face of the heightened threat of a major airborne assault, the U.S. embassy in Kyiv had to be evacuated, a far cry from a stable and secure environment.
In the thick of this escalating conflict, the use of mines in Ukraine has been prolific and, unfortunately, very effective. Russia, in particular, extensively utilized the disturbing technique of scattering mines using rockets or drones, a horrific testament to the lack of value placed on human life by the armies involved.
Mine-infested areas in southern Ukraine have significantly hindered Ukraine’s countermeasures in 2023 while causing a substantial loss of life among Ukrainian soldiers. The size of these anti-personnel explosives is comparable to a hockey puck, with a pressure-sensitive mechanism invoking a deadly blast at the slightest step.
Despite the indignation of numerous rights organizations over the horrific civilian casualties caused by mines, the Biden administration chose to turn a blind eye. Even as the memory of their impact lingers for years, sometimes decades after conflicts end, mines remain scattered across the landscape, their positions often unmarked or forgotten.
Regrettably, Ukraine holds the unfortunate distinction of being the most mine-infested country globally, as per United Nations’ data. Despite this, the United States, along with Russia, remains outside the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, a convention banning the use and storage of land mines.
According to the United Nations, civilians have borne the brunt of this cruel war tactic. A shocking total of 407 Ukrainian civilians have lost their lives to mines and unexploded ordnance since 2022, with an additional 944 reported injured.
Unbelievably, instances of rocket-propelled land mines by Ukrainian forces has been reported around the eastern town of Izium in 2022, to be later investigated by Ukraine’s foreign ministry after allegations surfaced in a 2023 rights group investigation.
Nevertheless, the US government, refusing to align itself with the world’s humanitarian norms, remains a non-signatory of the treaty governing land mines. This absence of accountability allows Washington to continue its supply of land mines to other countries unrestricted.
The depiction of these events brings to light how Russia has been liberally seeding mines throughout vast regions of Ukraine, paving a path of destruction that has ebbed and flowed across forests, farms, and villages since 2014. Add to that, the widespread use of victim-activated traps that detonate explosives at the slightest prompt – another example of Biden’s failed diplomacy.