The White House Tuesday announced that the US has decided to limit its use of anti-personnel landmines. The decision aligns the US with many other nations around the world who have made similar prohibitions on the production and use of anti-personnel landmines.

While other nations ratified the 1997 Ottawa Convention on arms limitations, the US famously failed to sign or ratify the treaty. Now, the decision to prohibit anti-personnel landmines puts the US closer to de facto compliance with the treaty’s terms. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates that 3,500 people are maimed or killed by anti-personnel landmines each year. Before the Ottowa Treaty, the figure neared 20,000.

In a statement, the White House cited Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, declaring:

The world has once again witnessed the devastating impact that anti-personnel landmines can have in the context of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war in Ukraine, where Russian forces’ use of these and other munitions have caused extensive harm to civilians and civilian objects.