Zelenskyy signs decree on Ukraine's withdrawal from convention on ban of anti-personnel mines

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree putting into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) on Ukraine's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, which is aimed at stopping the use of anti-personnel mines.

This is stated on the website of the Office of the President.

Thus, by decree No. 441/2025, Zelenskyy decided to put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated June 29, 2025 "On Ukraine's withdrawal from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of September 18, 1997".

The President entrusted the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, with control over its implementation.

"Guided by the national interests of Ukraine, in order to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has decided to support the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on Ukraine's withdrawal from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction of September 18, 1997," the NSDC decision states. The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (unofficially the Ottawa Convention) is an international agreement aimed at ending the use of anti-personnel mines as a means of armed conflict. It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Oslo in 1997 and entered into force on March 1, 1999. It was signed by 133 states. Among the countries that did not sign the treaty are China, russia and the US, India, Israel, North and South Korea. Ukraine has been a party to the convention since 2006.

As a reminder, on June 19, the Finnish parliament voted to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention amid concerns about the military threat from russia. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland were the first to withdraw from the international treaty.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in May it was known that Ukraine was studying mechanisms to minimize restrictions arising from the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.