Poland will be able to lay anti-personnel mines along its eastern border within 48 hours once its withdrawal from theOttawa Convention takes effect, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated, according to Reuters on February 19.
Tusk spoke ahead of Poland’s formal exit from the treaty on February 20, completing a six-month withdrawal process launched in August 2025 and clearing the way for Warsaw to use and produce anti-personnel mines that had been banned under the convention.
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Poland intends to deploy the mines as part of its “East Shield” project to bolster defenses along the borders with Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
“We are in the process of finalising this mine project, which is crucial for our security, for the security of our territory and border,” Tusk told a press conference.
In December, Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Zalewski stated that Poland would resume production of anti-personnel mines for the first time since the Cold War for domestic deployment and possible export to Ukraine.
A map highlights Poland’s eastern frontier with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad region, including the Suwałki Gap corridor between Kaliningrad and Belarus. (Source: GBNews)
The move follows similar steps by Poland’s Baltic neighbors, which have already completed their own withdrawals from the Ottawa Convention.
They have also accelerated border fortifications under the Baltic Defense Line, including anti-tank ditches and the installation of concrete bunkers along vulnerable sections of the frontier with Russia.
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CategoryWar in UkraineA New Landmine-Lined “Iron Curtain” Rises on NATO’s Border to Deter Russian Invasion
Jul 15, 2025 11:14
The push to leave the Ottawa Convention gathered momentum after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing deterioration in security along NATO’s eastern flank, prompting Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to argue they needed greater flexibility to defend borders with Russia and Belarus, according to a joint statement by the four countries’ defense ministers.
Earlier, it was reported that Ukraine advanced a formal withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, initiating legal procedures that would allow the country to resume the production, stockpiling, and use of anti-personnel landmines, with officials arguing the step was necessary to strengthen national defense capabilities.
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