Canadian advocates are urging Ottawa to protect the 1997 treaty Canada brokered to stop the use of landmines, as six countries on Europe's eastern flank move toward using the explosive weapons.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he had signed a decree to pull Ukraine out of the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of anti-personnel mines as a necessary step in view of Russian tactics in their 40-month-old war.