Biden approves anti-personnel mines for Ukraine, US official says

(Reuters) - President Joe Biden has approved providing anti-personnel land mines to Ukraine, a U.S. official told Reuters.

Ukraine had committed to not using the mines in densely populated areas, an unnamed official told the Washington Post, which first reported the development.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas; Editing by Jasper Ward and Christopher Cushing)

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Donald Trump's allies voiced vehement criticism Monday of President Joe Biden's decision to let Ukraine use US-supplied long-range missiles for attacks inside Russia, accusing him of a dangerous escalation. Moscow has pledged an "appropriate" response if the US-supplied missiles are in fact used against Russia, and Trump's team accused Biden of escalating the war for political reasons.

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Ukraine fired several American-supplied longer-range missiles into Russia, officials said Tuesday, marking the first time Kyiv used the weapons that way in 1,000 days of war. The use of the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, came as Russian President Vladimir Putin formally lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons, opening the door to a potential nuclear response by Moscow to even a conventional attack by any nation supported by a nuclear power. A Telegram channel affiliated with the Ukrainian military posted a video Tuesday that it says shows U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles being fired from an undisclosed location in Ukraine.

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