Poland ready to mine border in 48 hours after Ottawa Convention exit – Tusk

Poland began the exit process in August 2025 and will complete the six-month transition period on Feb. 20.

"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 said at a press conference.

The government plans to deploy anti-personnel mines as part of the East Shield border fortification initiative along frontiers with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. Most European neighbors of Russia, except Norway, are also moving to exit the convention.

In December, Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Zalewski said Poland would resume production of anti-personnel mines for the first time since the Cold War to deploy along its eastern border and potentially export to Ukraine.

The Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines entered into force on March 1, 1999. As of August 2022, 164 states had ratified or acceded to it, including Ukraine in 2005. Russia, the United States and China are not parties.

In 2025, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia withdrew. Finland exited in January 2026.

On June 29, 2025, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted a National Security and Defense Council decree initiating Ukraine’s withdrawal from the convention. Parliament approved the move on July 15.