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The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has passed a law that temporarily suspends the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. Draft law No. 0329 was voted in favour by 299 MPs, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak said.
The need to adopt this decision is driven by the need to strengthen the country’s defence capabilities in the context of a full-scale war unleashed by the Russian Federation since 2022. As stated in the explanatory note to the draft law, Ukraine is forced to review its international legal obligations under Article 51 of the UN Charter, which guarantees the right to self-defence.
One of the key reasons for this step was asymmetry: Russia is not a party to the 1997 Convention, which creates unilateral advantages for the aggressor and significantly limits Ukraine’s engineering and defence capabilities.
The law stipulates that the suspension will remain in force until the Russian aggression is completely stopped. The legal basis for the decision is Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which allows for the temporary suspension of international obligations in the event of a material change in circumstances.
After the law enters into force, Ukraine will officially notify the States Parties, the depositary of the document and the UN Security Council of the suspension of the Convention.
This decision also paves the way for expanding military-technical cooperation with states that are not parties to the Convention and allows Ukraine to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression, in particular in terms of the use of engineering barriers and mine defence.
