Zelensky approves Ukraine's withdrawal from treaty banning anti-personnel mines

Staff members of the State Service for Emergencies of Ukraine conduct search and clearance operations at the site of an air strike in Kiev, Ukraine, on June 23, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on Sunday to withdraw the country from the Ottawa Convention -- an international treaty that bans the use of anti-personnel landmines.

The decree approves the National Security and Defense Council's decision to pull out of the treaty "so as to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine."

The withdrawal will take effect once it passes parliament, said Ukrainian lawmaker Roman Kostenko.

"Russia is not a side of this convention," Kostenko wrote on Facebook. "We cannot stay bound when the enemy has no limitations."

Ukraine signed the Ottawa Convention in 1999 and ratified it in 2005.