Ukraine ranks second globally in anti-personnel mine casualties – Handicap International

In 2022, Ukraine became the second country after Syria in the number of victims of anti-personnel mines.

This is stated in the guide "Landmine Monitor 2023", prepared by the humanitarian organization Handicap International (HI).

The document, which was released on November 14, states Syria (834 people), Ukraine (608), Yemen (582), and Myanmar (545) are the countries with the most significant number of victims – killed and wounded.

In total, 1,661 people were killed and 3,015 seriously injured by these weapons and unexploded bombs in 2022, 85% of them civilians, and almost half of the civilian victims were children.

This high number is mainly due to the increase in armed conflicts and IEDs since 2015. Anti-personnel mines were especially widely used by the armed forces of Russia and Myanmar, the authors of the document note.

According to Landmine Monitor, since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russian forces have widely used at least 13 different types of anti-personnel mines.

"After many years of decline, since 2015, we have been suffering a large number of landmine casualties every year. Conflicts are increasing, and some armies are using land mines en masse. We also observe that areas remain contaminated for a long time. This leads to casualties long after the end of the conflict," said Eva Maria Fischer, head of the political department of Handicap International in Germany.

Landmines currently contaminate a total of 85 countries and five territories on the planet.

Monitoring prepared on the occasion of the annual mine ban conference in Geneva from November 20 to 24; Handicap International calls on the international community and the parties to the conflict to stop using these barbaric weapons. Twenty-six years after the adoption of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, these weapons continue to kill and maim.

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Handicap International/Humanity & Inclusion (HI) is a non-profit emergency relief and development cooperation organization working in approximately 60 countries. HI is one of the laureates of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.