US will allow Ukraine to use anti-personnel land mines against Russian forces

The Biden administration will allow Ukraine to use American-supplied anti-personnel land mines to help fight off Russian forces, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has said.

Speaking to reporters during a trip to Laos, Mr Austin said the shift in policy follows changing tactics by the Russians.

He said Russian ground troops are leading the movement on the battlefield, rather than forces more protected in armoured carriers, so Ukraine has “a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians”.

Mr Austin added: “The land mines that we would look to provide them would be land mines that are not persistent, you know, we can control when they would self-activate, self-detonate and that makes it, you know, far more, safer eventually than the things that they are creating on their own.”