Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), President-elect Trump’s choice for national security advisor, said the Biden administration’s decision to allow Ukraine to use anti-personnel land (APL) mines to mitigate Russia’s battlefield progress has turned the situation into “World War I trench warfare.”
During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Waltz said the decision “needs to be within a broader framework to end this conflict.”
“It is just an absolute meat grinder of people and personnel on that front,” he said. “It is more like World War I trench warfare.”
He noted that Trump is “incredibly concerned” about the conflict.
“President Trump is incredibly concerned about the carnage that is taking place there and again, ‘how do we how do we restore deterrence and how do we bring peace?'” he said.
When pushed on why Trump has not often publicly discussed the situation in Ukraine, Waltz reassured that the incoming president is “concerned about the escalation and where it’s all going.”
“We need to, we need to bring this to a responsible end,” he added. “We need to restore deterrence, restore peace, and get ahead of this escalation ladder rather than responding to it.”
Russia has already been using land mines in Ukraine. Anti-personnel land mines have widespread criticism from activists, human rights and arms control groups because they can linger for years after a conflict has ended, posing a threat to civilians.
While the U.S. has already supplied Ukraine with anti-tank mines for use against Russia, in 2022, President Biden reversed a Trump administration policy that had allowed for the use of APLs, returning to an Obama-era policy that had banned their use except in South Korea.
In 2023, there was similar pushback when Biden approved cluster munitions for Ukraine. Those munitions can also remain on fields and across towns long after the war.
