A file photo of a demining team clearing a field in Makariv, Ukraine, an area near Kyiv that was occupied by Russian forces during the early months of the war, on April 21, 2023. Five countries plan to revive the use of a weapon prohibited by treaty, hoping to strengthen their defences against any Russian attack. — Finbarr O’Reilly/The New York Times
For decades, borders seeded with antipersonnel mines divided the Soviet bloc from the West, deterring citizens from fleeing across the Iron Curtain.
At the end of the Cold War, the mines were painstakingly dug up along the long frontier of the collapsed bloc. Anti-mine campaigners, helped in their cause by Diana, Princess of Wales, pushed world leaders to hammer out a global treaty banning a deadly weapon that indiscriminately kills civilians.
