White House spokesman Andrew Bates sharply criticized Donald Trump for his comments that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate” Israel and their religion.
“President Biden has put his foot down when it comes to vile and unhinged antisemitic rhetoric,” he said in a statement. “As antisemitic crimes and acts of hate have increased across the world – among them the deadliest attack committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust – leaders have an obligation to call hate what it is and bring Americans together against it.”
Here’s more on that, from the Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt:
The supreme court has allowed a law passed by Texas’s Republican-dominated state government that gives police the power to arrest people suspected of crossing the border illegally to go into effect.
The court’s six conservative justices turned down an appeal from the Biden administration, which wanted the law blocked while it challenged it in lower courts. The court’s three liberals dissented.
The measure had been on hold due to a stay authorized by conservative justice Samuel Alito, who was among the group that allowed it to go into effect. Alito extended it yesterday:
An Arizona lawmaker announced on Monday on the state senate floor that she plans to have an abortion after learning that her pregnancy is not viable, the Associated Press writes.
State senator Eva Burch, a registered nurse known for her reproductive rights activism, was surrounded by fellow Democratic senators as she made the announcement, the Arizona Republic reported and the AP brings us via news wire.
Burch said that she found out a few weeks ago that “against all odds”, she was pregnant. The mother of two living children from west Mesa who is running for re-election said she has had “a rough journey” with fertility. She experienced her first miscarriage 13 years ago, was pregnant many times and terminated a nonviable pregnancy as she campaigned for her senate seat two years ago, she said.
Now, Burch said that her current pregnancy was not progressing and not viable and she had made an appointment to terminate.
I don’t think people should have to justify their abortions. But I’m choosing to talk about why I made this decision because I want us to be able to have meaningful conversations about the reality of how the work that we do in this body impacts people in the real world.”
Burch said the state’s laws have “interfered” with her decision. Arizona law required an “invasive” transvaginal ultrasound that her doctor didn’t order and she was then read “factually false” information about alternatives that was required by law, she said.
I’m a perfect example of why this relationship should be between patients and providers,” not state lawmakers,” Burch said.
Burch called on the legislature to pass laws that make sure every Arizonan has the opportunity to make decisions that are right for them. She also said she hoped voters have a chance to weigh in on the topic of abortion rights on the November ballot.
Joe Biden is onboard Air Force One en route to Nevada and expects to touch down shortly in Reno, for a campaign event, then head on to Las Vegas and, later, Arizona and its state capital, Phoenix.
The US president and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, are today launching a special push to retain and win over teetering Hispanic voters who might be leaning towards the Republicans.
Donald Trump was ahead of Biden in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll of Latino voters by six points. Many respond to Trump’s conservative economic message and hardline approach to migration and future immigration.
Biden and Harris have devised the “Latinos con Biden/Harris” [Latinos with Biden/Harris] campaign. Harris has posted about it on X/Twitter, with Biden reposting/tweeting. There’s a clip of her on a bilingual radio show in Phoenix, Arizona, and giving speeches and making statements, talking up the US as a nation of immigrants.
“Generation after generation, immigrants have made our nation stronger,” she said. There’s also a clip of her saying the US immigration system has been “broken for years”, which in the fourth year of the Biden administration is a tough message to push, despite intransigence in Congress and unprecedented forces driving migration, from extremism to the climate crisis.
The White House expressed outrage after Donald Trump said in an interview that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate” Israel and their religion, with a spokesman for Joe Bidendecrying Trump’s “vile and unhinged antisemitic rhetoric”, and the Democratic National Committee saying the former president “should be ashamed of himself”. Meanwhile, in Congress, the top Democrats and Republicans announced a government funding deal to avert a partial shutdown that would have begun this coming weekend, though it still needs to be approved by lawmakers. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was “deeply concerned” about reports of an imminent famine in northern Gaza, while again calling on Republican House speaker Mike Johnson to allow a vote on aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House adviser, reported to federal prison to begin serving a four-month sentence for contempt of Congress, but not without railing against his conviction one last time.
It’s primary dayin five states, with most of the drama occurring in down-ballot elections.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was also asked if the Biden administration had looked into making its aid to Ukraine a loan, as Donald Trump has proposed.
She didn’t answer the question, only restating their position that Republican House speaker Mike Johnson must allow a vote on legislation approved by the Senate to provide military assistance to Ukraine along with Taiwan and Israel.
“To give Ukraine what they need is to get that national [security] supplemental passed,” Jean-Pierre told reporters.
“We know for a fact that there are multiple Republican congressional members in the House who have said that they would vote for it if it goes to the floor. We know where Democrats are on this,” she continued. “The speaker has to put it to the floor and not … let politics get in the way.”
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre just told reporters that the White House is “deeply concerned” over aid groups’ warning that famine in northern Gaza is imminent.
“We certainly are deeply concerned about the report yesterday … about the imminent famine in Gaza,” Jean-Pierre said. “As the report makes clear, despite ongoing and tireless efforts, including by this administration, the amount of aid reaching people in Gaza, and particularly those most in need, remains insufficient. “So, we have been clear that there is more that needs to be done and this report is a stark and devastating reminder of this.”
The United States has been airdropping food and other aid into the enclave, and Joe Biden announced earlier this month that the US military would build a floating pier to allow deliveries by sea.
“Everyone needs to do more,” said Jean-Pierre, who called on Israel “to provide sustained and unimpeded for assistance to enter both northern and southern Gaza.”
Peter Navarro, a former White House adviser to Donald Trump, is reporting to federal prison today in Florida after being convicted of contempt of Congress.
But before he beginning his time behind bars, Navarro once more appeared before cameras to, in the style of his former boss, decry the fact that a jury found him guilty for ignoring a subpoena from the January 6 committee:
It wasn’t just a jury that weighed Navarro’s fate. He appealed all the way up to the supreme court, which turned away his challenge, clearing the way for him to begin serving his four-month term:
The Corrupt Political Hacks in New York, Judge and AG, are asking me to put up massive amounts of money before I am allowed to appeal the ridiculous decision. Never done before. No jury, no victim, full disclaimer clause, happy banks. ELECTION INTERFERENCE! WITCH HUNT!
Trump’s problems appear to be driven by the fact that the bond he is looking for is unusually large:
The defense department has managed to scrounge together another $300m to help Ukraine, Reuters reports, even as the Biden administration insists it has no more funds available beyond that:
The Pentagon will rush about $300m in weapons to Ukraine after finding some cost savings in its contracts, even though the military remains deeply overdrawn and needs at least $10bn to replenish all the weapons it has pulled from its stocks to help Kyiv in its desperate fight against Russia, the White House announced on Tuesday.
It’s the Pentagon’s first announced security package for Ukraine since December, when it acknowledged it was out of replenishment funds. It wasn’t until recent days that officials publicly acknowledged they weren’t just out of replenishment funds, but $10bn overdrawn.
The announcement comes as Ukraine is running dangerously low on munitions and efforts to get fresh funds for weapons have stalled in the House because of Republican opposition. US officials have insisted for months that the United States wouldn’t be able to resume weapons deliveries until Congress provided the additional replenishment funds, which are part of the stalled supplemental spending bill.
For months, Congress has been deadlocked over whether to approve more aid to Ukraine, largely due to objections from Republicans over paying for Kyiv’s defense against Russia’s invasion.
Now, an idea is gaining traction among some influential lawmakers to break the logjam: turn the aid into a loan.
Lindsey Graham, the Republican South Carolina senator and foreign policy hawk, said that during a recent meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, “I informed him that given the crisis at the United States’ southern border and our overwhelming debt, President Trump’s idea of turning aid from the United States into a no-interest, waivable loan is the most likely path forward.
“Once Ukraine gets back on its feet, they will be an economic powerhouse because of their access to mass deposits of critical minerals, oil and gas,” Graham added.
Donald Trump, who recently won the delegates necessary to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, has lately proposed that the United States stop giving countries – Ukraine included – aid, and give them loans instead.
Voters in five states are casting ballots in primary races today, and while Joe Biden and Donald Trump have their respective parties’ nominations sewn up, the Guardian’s Lauren Gambino reports that there’s plenty of intrigue in the down-ballot elections to be decided:
With a rematch set between Joe Biden and Donald Trump after both candidates crossed the delegate threshold needed to clinch their parties’ presidential nominations, suspense around the next wave of Tuesday primaries shifts to a handful of key down-ballot races.
Five states – Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio – will hold their presidential nominating contests on Tuesday. Trump and Biden are expected to sail to victory, growing their delegate counts in a march toward this summer’s conventions, where they will officially secure their parties’ nomination.
Trump’s last Republican challenger, his former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, ended her presidential campaign after being routed on Super Tuesday, while the Democratic congressman Dean Phillips dropped his long-shot challenge to Biden after failing to win a single delegate, including in his home state of Minnesota.
In Florida, the state Democratic party decided support for Biden was strong enough and cancelled its presidential primary. Republicans in the one-time swing state can vote for Trump, though his vanquished rivals, including the governor, Ron DeSantis, will still appear on the ballot. The result may reveal clues about the enduring strength of the anti-Trump vote within the Republican party.
Donald Trump’s attack on Jews who vote for Democrats is part of a string of questionable comments the former president has made in recent days. As the Guardian’s Richard Luscombe reports, Trump on Saturday predicted a “bloodbath” if he lost November’s election:
Joe Biden tore into Donald Trump’s mental stability at a dinner in Washington DC on Saturday – just as the former president was making verbal gaffes at a campaign rally in Ohio as well as, during remarks on the economy and auto industry, predicting a “bloodbath” for the country if he met defeat in November’s election.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, confused the crowd at an appearance in Vandalia by insisting that Biden had beaten “Barack Hussein Obama” in elections nationally that never took place.
Freewheeling during a speech in which his teleprompters were seemingly disabled by high winds, Trump – a frequent critic of the 81-year-old Biden’s age and mental acuity – struggled to pronounce the words “bite” and “largest”. And he left the crowd scratching their heads over the reference to Obama, whom Biden served as vice-president from 2009 to 2017 before taking the Oval Office from Trump in 2020.
“You know what’s interesting? Joe Biden won against Barack Hussein Obama. Has anyone ever heard of him? Every swing state, Biden beat Obama but in every other state, he got killed,” Trump said.
Biden joked about Trump’s mental fitness at Saturday night’s Gridiron club dinner, a traditional “roast” attended by politicians and journalists dating to the 1880s.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates sharply criticized Donald Trump for his comments that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate” Israel and their religion.
“President Biden has put his foot down when it comes to vile and unhinged antisemitic rhetoric,” he said in a statement. “As antisemitic crimes and acts of hate have increased across the world – among them the deadliest attack committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust – leaders have an obligation to call hate what it is and bring Americans together against it.”
Here’s more on that, from the Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt:
The government shutdown threat won’t be neutralized until Congress passes the final funding bill, and if you know Congress, you know they are capable of anything. From the Guardian’s Joan E Greve, here’s more on the sprint to head off a partial shutdown that will begin if the funding is not approved by Friday:
Congress faces its third shutdown deadline of the month this week, as much of the federal government is expected to run out of funding by Friday at midnight.
Both chambers of Congress must approve six appropriations bills before Saturday to get the legislation to Joe Biden’s desk and avert a partial shutdown. Although the current fiscal year started more than five months ago, House Republicans have struggled to pass appropriations bills due to demands from hard-right members to include controversial provisions in the legislation.
As a result, Congress has been forced to pass four stopgap bills since the fiscal year began in October, and members hope they can finally conclude the appropriations process this week.
But disputes over the Department of Homeland Security’s budget have hampered the negotiations so far, raising serious doubts about whether members will be able to pass a spending package in time to prevent a funding lapse.
Punchbowl News reported on Monday evening that negotiators had reached a deal on homeland security funding, but it remains unclear whether Congress will have enough time to pass the proposal before Saturday.
Here’s everything you need to know about the shutdown threat:
Congress’s top Democrats and Republicans say they have reached a final agreement on government funding, and will move to enact legislation before the end of the day Friday that will prevent a partial shutdown.
The sticking point was funding for the Department of Homeland Security, with Democrats over the weekend accusing Republicans of turning down their attempts to channel funds to the department to help it deal with migrant arrivals at the southern border, according to Politico.
The two sides appear to have worked out their disagreement. Here’s what Republican House speaker Mike Johnson had to say:
An agreement has been reached for DHS appropriations, which will allow completion of the FY24 appropriations process. House and Senate committees have begun drafting bill text to be prepared for release and consideration by the full House and Senate as soon as possible.
It was much the same tone from Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer:
Senate and House leaders and the White House have reached an agreement to finish the final set of full year appropriations bills. The Senate and House Appropriations Committees are in the process of finalizing text and reports for Congress to closely review and consider as soon as possible.
Funding for a chunk of Washington’s departments, including homeland security, defense and state, expires at midnight on Friday. Congress passed legislation to fund the other half of the US government earlier this month.
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Campaigning for the November election is in full swing, and true to form, Donald Trump is saying things that people find outrageous and offensive. The latest: his comments on Monday that Jews who voted for Democrats “hate” their religion and Israel. America’s relationship with Israel is a major political issue, with Congress deadlocked over approving aid to the country as well as Ukraine and Taiwan despite months of negotiations, and Joe Biden showing signs of exasperation with Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of its invasion of Gaza. Democrats pilloried Trump for his comments, with a party spokesman saying the former president “should be ashamed of himself”.
Perhaps. But Democrats are also grappling with the uncomfortable reality that Biden is stubbornly unpopular, and that Trump has a track record of saying offensive things and yet maintaining Republicans’ loyalty. But Biden’s not Hillary Clinton, it’s not 2016 any more, and we’ll see if this comment lands among voters any differently. Trump is also dealing with his own problems, namely the bond he is so far unable to secure to cover New York’s $454m civil fraud judgment against him.
Here’s what else is going on today:
The supreme court will issue opinions at 10am ET. We don’t know what they’ll decide, but one case pending will determine whether South Carolina’s congressional map was an illegal racial gerrymander.
Biden heads to Nevada and Arizona, two swing states that will be important to his re-election prospects. In the latter, he’ll launch Latinos con Biden-Harris to attract voters from the demographic that’s well represented in both states.
Republicans have an idea for breaking the logjam on Ukraine aid: make it a loan. We’ll see if any Democrats think that’s a good idea.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrats who control both chambers of the Virginia legislature are hoping to make good on promises made on the campaign trail, including becoming the first Southern state to expand constitutional protections for abortion access.
The House Privileges and Elections Committee advanced three proposed constitutional amendments Wednesday, including a measure to protect reproductive rights. Its members also discussed measures to repeal a now-defunct state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and ways to revise Virginia’s process to restore voting rights for people who served time for felony crimes.
“This meeting was an important next step considering the moment in history we find ourselves in,” Democratic Del. Cia Price, the committee chair, said during a news conference. “We have urgent threats to our freedoms that could impact constituents in all of the districts we serve.”
The at-times raucous meeting will pave the way for the House and Senate to take up the resolutions early next year after lawmakers tabled the measures last January. Democrats previously said the move was standard practice, given that amendments are typically introduced in odd-numbered years. But Republican Minority Leader Todd Gilbert said Wednesday the committee should not have delved into the amendments before next year’s legislative session. He said the resolutions, particularly the abortion amendment, need further vetting.
“No one who is still serving remembers it being done in this way ever,” Gilbert said after the meeting. “Certainly not for something this important. This is as big and weighty an issue as it gets.”
The Democrats’ legislative lineup comes after Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, to the dismay of voting-rights advocates, rolled back a process to restore people’s civil rights after they completed sentences for felonies. Virginia is the only state that permanently bans anyone convicted of a felony from voting unless a governor restores their rights.
“This amendment creates a process that is bounded by transparent rules and criteria that will apply to everybody — it’s not left to the discretion of a single individual,” Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, the patron of the voting rights resolution, which passed along party lines, said at the news conference.
Though Democrats have sparred with the governor over their legislative agenda, constitutional amendments put forth by lawmakers do not require his signature, allowing the Democrat-led House and Senate to bypass Youngkin’s blessing.
Instead, the General Assembly must pass proposed amendments twice in at least two years, with a legislative election sandwiched between each statehouse session. After that, the public can vote by referendum on the issues. The cumbersome process will likely hinge upon the success of all three amendments on Democrats’ ability to preserve their edge in the House and Senate, where they hold razor-thin majorities.
It’s not the first time lawmakers have attempted to champion the three amendments. Republicans in a House subcommittee killed a constitutional amendment to restore voting rights in 2022, a year after the measure passed in a Democrat-led House. The same subcommittee also struck down legislation supporting a constitutional amendment to repeal an amendment from 2006 banning marriage equality.
On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers voted 16-5 in favor of legislation protecting same-sex marriage, with four Republicans supporting the resolution.
“To say the least, voters enacted this (amendment) in 2006, and we have had 100,000 voters a year become of voting age since then,” said Del. Mark Sickles, who sponsored the amendment as one of the first openly gay men serving in the General Assembly. “Many people have changed their opinions of this as the years have passed.”
A constitutional amendment protecting abortion previously passed the Senate in 2023 but died in a Republican-led House. On Wednesday, the amendment passed on party lines.
If successful, the resolution proposed by House Majority Leader Charniele Herring would be part of a growing trend of reproductive rights-related ballot questions given to voters. Since 2022, 18 questions have gone before voters across the U.S., and they have sided with abortion rights advocates 14 times.
The voters have approved constitutional amendments ensuring the right to abortion until fetal viability in nine states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Vermont. Voters also passed a right-to-abortion measure in Nevada in 2024, but it must be passed again in 2026 to be added to the state constitution.
As lawmakers debated the measure, roughly 18 members spoke. Mercedes Perkins, at 38 weeks pregnant, described the importance of women making decisions about their own bodies. Rhea Simon, another Virginia resident, anecdotally described how reproductive health care shaped her life.
Then all at once, more than 50 people lined up to speak against the abortion amendment.
“Let’s do the compassionate thing and care for mothers and all unborn children,” resident Sheila Furey said.
The audience gave a collective “Amen,” followed by a round of applause.
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Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative.
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment. Kennedy, he said, would “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, abandoned his bid after striking a deal to give Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration.
He and Trump have since become good friends, with Kennedy frequently receiving loud applause at Trump’s rallies.
The expected appointment was first reported by Politico Thursday.
A longtime vaccine skeptic, Kennedy is an attorney who has built a loyal following over several decades of people who admire his lawsuits against major pesticide and pharmaceutical companies. He has pushed for tighter regulations around the ingredients in foods.
With the Trump campaign, he worked to shore up support among young mothers in particular, with his message of making food healthier in the U.S., promising to model regulations imposed in Europe. In a nod to Trump’s original campaign slogan, he named the effort “Make America Healthy Again.”
It remains unclear how that will square with Trump’s history of deregulation of big industries, including food. Trump pushed for fewer inspections of the meat industry, for example.
Kennedy’s stance on vaccines has also made him a controversial figure among Democrats and some Republicans, raising question about his ability to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Kennedy has espoused misinformation around the safety of vaccines, including pushing a totally discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism.
He also has said he would recommend removing fluoride from drinking water. The addition of the material has been cited as leading to improved dental health.
HHS has more than 80,000 employees across the country. It houses the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the National Institutes of Health.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — In a Cypriot National Guard camp, Ukrainians are being trained on how to identify, locate and dispose of landmines and other unexploded munitions that litter huge swaths of their country, killing and maiming hundreds of people, including children.
Analysts say Ukraine is among the countries that are the most affected by landmines and discarded explosives, as a result of Russia’s ongoing war.
According to U.N. figures, some 399 people have been killed and 915 wounded from landmines and other munitions since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, equal to the number of casualties reported from 2014-2021. More than 1 in 10 of those casualties have been children.
The economic impact is costing billions to the Ukrainian economy. Landmines and other munitions are preventing the sowing of 5 million hectares, or 10%, of the country’s agricultural land.
Cyprus stepped up to offer its facilities as part of the European Union’s Military Assistance Mission to Ukraine. So far, almost 100 Ukrainian armed forces personnel have taken part in three training cycles over the last two years, said Cyprus Foreign Ministry spokesperson Theodoros Gotsis.
“We are committed to continuing this support for as long as it takes,” Gotsis told the Associated Press, adding that the Cyprus government has covered the 250,000 euro ($262,600) training cost.
Cyprus opted to offer such training owing to its own landmine issues dating back five decades when the island nation was ethnically divided when Turkey invaded following a coup that sought union with Greece. The United Nations has removed some 27,000 landmines from a buffer zone that cuts across the island, but minefields remain on either side. The Cypriot government says it has disposed of all anti-personnel mines in line with its obligations under an international treaty that bans the use of such munitions.
In Cyprus, Ukrainians undergo rigorous theoretical and practical training over a five-week Basic Demining and Clearance course that includes instruction on distinguishing and safely handling landmines and other explosive munitions, such as rockets, 155 mm artillery shells, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells.
Theoretical training uses inert munitions identical to the actual explosives.
Most of the course is comprised of hands-on training focusing on the on-site destruction of unexploded munitions using explosives, the chief training officer told the Associated Press. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he’s not authorized to disclose his identity for security reasons.
“They’re trained on ordnance disposal using real explosives,” the officer said. “That will be the trainees’ primary task when they return.”
Cypriot officials said the Ukrainian trainees did not want to be either interviewed or photographed.
Defusing discarded munitions or landmines in areas where explosive charges can’t be used — for instance, near a hospital — is not part of this course because that’s the task of highly trained teams of disposal experts whose training can last as long as eight months, the officer said.
Trainees, divided into groups of eight, are taught how to operate metal detectors and other tools for detecting munitions like prodders — long, thin rods which are used to gently probe beneath the ground’s surface in search of landmines and other explosive ordnance.
Another tool is a feeler, a rod that’s used to detect booby-trapped munitions. There are many ways to booby-trap such munitions, unlike landmines which require direct pressure to detonate.
“Booby-trapped munitions are a widespread phenomenon in Ukraine,” the chief training officer explained.
Training, primarily conducted by experts from other European Union countries, takes place both in forested and urban areas at different army camps and follows strict safety protocols.
The short, intense training period keeps the Ukrainians focused.
“You see the interest they show during instruction: they ask questions, they want to know what mistakes they’ve made and the correct way of doing it,” the officer said.
Humanitarian data and analysis group ACAPS said in a Jan. 2024 report that 174,000 sq. kilometers (67,182 sq. miles) or nearly 29% of Ukraine’s territory needs to be surveyed for landmines and other explosive ordnance.
More than 10 million people are said to live in areas where demining action is needed.
Since 2022, Russian forces have used at least 13 types of anti-personnel mines, which target people. Russia never signed the 1997 Ottawa Convention banning the use of anti-personnel mines, but the use of such mines is nonetheless considered a violation of its obligations under international law.
Russia also uses 13 types of anti-tank mines.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines said in its 2023 Landmine Monitor report that Ukrainian government forces may have also used antipersonnel landmines in contravention of the Mine Ban Treaty in and around the city of Izium during 2022, when the city was under Russian control.
