Stephen Zabielski,
the American who died fighting the Russians in Ukraine when he tripped on a
landmine, has made the United States reconsider its policy on landmines. The
White House announced a policy to limit the use of anti-personnel landmines on
Tuesday. The new policy will be pursuant to the Ottawa Convention, the international
treaty prohibiting the use, stockpiling and production and transfer of
anti-personnel landmines. It will apply to areas outside the Korean Peninsula.

Also Read | Who was Stephen Zabielski? 

In the statement
announcing the limit on anti-personnel landmines, the White House said, “The
world has once again witnessed the devastating impact that anti-personnel
landmines can have in the context of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war in
Ukraine, where Russian forces’ use of these and other munitions have caused extensive
harm to civilians and civilian objects.”

What are
anti-personnel landmines?

Anti-personnel
landmines are explosive devices buried into the earth to kill people. They are classified
differently from anti-tank landmines, which as the name suggests, are meant to
attack tanks usually in war zones. Anti-personnel landmines are often designed
to injure and not kill.

Regulations
around anti-personnel landmines

The Ottawa
convention, which calls for a ban on landmines, is an international treaty with
several signatories. While the US’ new policy on anti-personnel landmines is
stated to be in line with the Ottawa convention, the US is not a signatory to
the convention.

The Stephen
Zabielski story

Stephen Zabielski,
a 52-year-old US Army veteran, had gone to Ukraine to fight the Russians. The
US State Department recently confirmed that Zabielski had died after he tripped
over a landmine. Zabielski is the second American to have died in the war in
Ukraine. The first American to die in the Russia-Ukraine conflict was
22-year-old Joseph Cancel Jr., a former marine.

What the US
said on use of landmines

The White House
statement on anti-personnel landmines issued Tuesday says: “President (Joe)
Biden is committed to continuing the United States’ role as the world’s leader
in mitigating the harmful consequences of anti-personnel landmines worldwide.
Since 1993, the United States has invested more than $4.2 billion in more than
100 countries to conventional weapons destruction programmes.”