Overview

• Ukraine on June 29 signed a decree to withdraw from the 1999 Ottawa Convention, beginning a six-month exit process requiring parliamentary ratification
• Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland have launched similar six-month procedures to lift bans on anti-personnel mines
• Kyiv and NATO officials argue minefields are needed to bolster defenses and slow Russian infantry advances in the face of shortages of soldiers and munitions
• Humanitarian campaigners warn renewed mine use will amplify civilian casualties and impose long-term demining challenges
• Observers say the coordinated withdrawals risk undermining established international arms control and humanitarian law frameworks