The Return of the ‘Perfect Soldier’: Why Ukraine’s Landmine Decision Matters for Civilians Everywhere

By Gracyn McGathy

Ukraine’s recent decision to announce formal withdrawal from the Mine Ban Treaty should be a source of grave concern for the international human rights community. Their choice follows the scheduled exit of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Poland from the agreement later this year, all of which cited concerns over the Russio-Ukrainian war. Following two lengthy Russian invasions, Ukraine is now considered to be the most “mined country” in the world, with much of the forest terrain around the Kharkiv Oblast littered with trip-wire explosives, booby-trapped munition, and anti-personnel mines.

The purpose of many anti-personnel mines is to “injure, rather than kill,” maximizing human suffering while attempting to create medical and evacuation burdens upon the enemy force.

One of the defining characteristics of these mines is the little pressure required to explode, with some detonating at a mere 11 pounds of weight. Because of this, children around the globe are disproportionately at risk of threats posed by active minefields, and made up over a third of the recorded worldwide casualties from landmines in 2023. Largely, nearly 85% of landmine deaths globally are civilians.

Survivors of landmine detonations often incur traumatic amputations, fragment blast wounds, severe burns, and blindness. On a social level, landmine contamination can prevent societies from rebuilding following conflict, affecting economic growth and public infrastructure. In countries that rely heavily on their agricultural production, such as Ukraine, the use of landmines can render farmland unusable for decades. The process of demining land alone is an “arduous task,” with risks posed to the workers and high rates of environmental destruction.

Signed in 1997, the Ottawa Treaty, or the treaty against anti-personnel landmines, strictly outlaws the production and use of these weapons. It’s been widely celebrated as one of the most successful collective humanitarian disarmaments in history, reducing the global trade in landmine weaponry and initiating widespread clearance efforts of contaminated areas. 

However, like most international human rights treaties, its strength lies only in the collective adherence. The withdrawal of any country weakens the authority of the landmine treaty, which requires member states to adopt domestic legislation criminalizing the use of anti-personnel mines. 

Currently, around a fourth of Ukraine is considered contaminated by mines, the majority of which belong to Russian forces. Human Rights Watch estimates that this area of contamination is equivalent to the size of Florida, spanning 11 out of Ukraine’s 27 regions.  According to a UN report, the cost of decontaminating Ukraine’s land is estimated to be around $34.6 billion USD, severely crippling Ukraine’s economic potential.

Countries considering a return to the use of landmines need only look to Myanmar, Cambodia, and Yemen, where dormant mines continue to kill and maim civilians decades after conflicts have ended. Children are making up increasing numbers of these casualties, with many encountering unexploded ordinance “near their homes, schools, playgrounds, and farming areas.” During the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, scores of children were maimed after the Soviet Union deployed “butterfly mines,” or scatterable landmines that resemble the shape and color of a children’s toy. Human Rights Watch has documented the use of these “flower petal” mines by both the Russian Federation and Ukraine, concerning many in the international human rights community. 

The prospect of military advantage alone is not enough to justify the creation of minefields, which perpetuate suffering and death on civilian groups. While military strategists might argue that landmines can slow the spread of enemy forces or protect strongholds, the long-lasting threat they pose to civilians and the development of a country are incredibly difficult to justify. As a whole, international humanitarian law faces new challenges now that conflict is increasingly fought in urban areas, targeting civilian infrastructure and residential areas. This development in modern warfare means that indiscriminate weaponry, such as anti-personnel landmines, pose an even greater threat to civilian populations. 

The landmine has been referred to as the “perfect soldier,” because it never rests, never dies, and never misses. But the lesson from Cambodia, Yemen, and Myanmar is clear: once deployed, mines don’t submit to treaties, the laws of war, or respect civilian life. Ukraine’s decision, in conjunction with Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Poland, is a step backward in the moral boundaries of modern warfare. The Ottawa Treaty, like many other prohibitions on indiscriminate weaponry, is built on the principle that some munitions are so barbaric that their use can never be justified, regardless of military gain or advantage. Abandoning such norms undermines this consensus – a cost that will be paid, above all, by civilians.