Land mines are cruel and should be considered war crimes. However the article does mention this which should be addressed in the criticisms.
The Biden administration defended the move on multiple grounds. It noted that the types of mines it is providing are “non-persistent,” meaning they become inert after a time.
“They are electrically fused and require battery power to detonate. Once the battery runs out, they will not detonate,” said a U.S. official, who was granted anonymity to candidly explain the administration’s choice.
Edit: I hope a neutral third party can test them and verify this.
Those land mines will be there for years to come. Russian and Ukrainian children will be hurt or killed by them for years to come.
They'll be there forever unless China removes them, like Laos.
As if the conventional fighting and widespread atrocities weren't enough.
Between depleted uranium warheads supplied by the UK and landmines supplied by the US, Ukraine will be all but uninhabitable for generations to come.
Depleted uranium cause birth defects for generations: https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2019/09/21/new-study-documents-depleted-uranium-impacts-on-children-in-iraq/
84% of landmine victims are civilians, mostly children: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/20/sharp-rise-recorded-in-landmine-casualties-in-2023-warns-report
So dumb. Mining the land you call your own. Unless... they don't expect it to be theirs for long, which I assume is the case. It also means that Ukraine is not planning any counter attacks in the future, they're ok with being used as tools of the US to kill Russians.
