Small, Hidden, and Deadly: Mines Block Ukraine’s Counteroffensive
Small, Hidden, and Deadly: Mines Block Ukraine’s Counteroffensive
As a string of Russian explosives detonated over a field in southern Ukraine, the aftermath was a gruesome sight to behold, complete with severed limbs and wrecked vehicles.
In the area that served as a buffer zone between the two troops, a Ukrainian soldier accidentally stepped on a mine and fell to the ground. According to footage that have been released online and the statements of numerous soldiers who were involved, other Ukrainian forces could be seen nearby with their legs bound with tourniquets while they waited for medical evacuation.
They were saved not long after the arrival of an armoured vehicle. A medic ran out to treat the injured, and as he kneeled down on ground that he thought was clear, he accidentally set off another mine with his knee.
Five weeks into a counteroffensive that even Ukrainian officials concede is off to a sluggish start, interviews with commanders and soldiers fighting along the front indicate that the slow progress comes down to one key problem: land mines. The commanders and soldiers indicate that the poor progress comes down to land mines.
The terrain that the Ukrainian forces need to traverse is strewn with dozens of different kinds of explosives. These mines are made of plastic and metal, fashioned like tins of chewing tobacco or soda cans, and have colourful names like “the witch” and “the leaf.”
A lack of air assistance for the Ukrainian army, as well as a complex network of defensive fortifications constructed by the Russians, are further factors that work against it. However, the massive assortment of mines, trip wires, booby traps, and improvised explosive devices is what is keeping Ukrainian soldiers mired down only a few miles from where they started.
A Ukrainian private by the name of Serhiy who was part of a team that rescued the soldiers injured by the explosions stated, “I couldn’t imagine something like this.” “I had the impression that the mines would be laid out in lines. But entire fields are overrun with them, and they can be found everywhere.”
Mines have been an integral part of Russian military strategy for decades. They were utilised to a large extent in Afghanistan and Chechnya, as well as in earlier phases of the conflict in Ukraine, which dated back to 2014. According to soldiers who have been into the minefields, the minefields in the southern part of Ukraine are far larger and more complicated than was previously thought. In addition, extensive fields of anti-tank mines are planted by Ukraine in order to halt Russian advancements.
According to Maj. Maksym Prysyazhnyuk, a Ukrainian demining expert who goes into the fields at night ahead of infantry advances, “To clear mines, you should have a lot of motivation and a cool head,” “It’s such delicate work, like of a surgeon,” said one soldier, “but at the same time, explosions are going off all around you” in reference to the artillery fire taking place in the conflict.
Demining specialists go out into the field equipped with metal detectors and long, skinny probes that are attached to poles. They carefully poke at the ground in an effort to locate buried mines without accidentally setting them off. “These are our tools, and an icon in the pocket,” remarked Major Prysyazhnuk, alluding to the icons of saints and other religious figures that are common in Orthodox Christianity. He was stationed at a medical stabilisation point where a regular stream of soldiers who had been injured by mines presented themselves for treatment.
The demining teams’ work consists of clearing a route approximately two feet wide to make it possible for the army to advance. The deminers will then work their way back along the path to widen it by an additional foot or more. This will make it possible for two soldiers to walk shoulder-to-shoulder while transporting a stretcher full of wounded soldiers from the battle. In the middle of the previous month, a colleague who was being carried on a stretcher by another soldier accidentally set off a mine since the passage could not be widened quickly enough.
Even when the routes have been cleared, there is still danger. According to Major Prysyazhnyuk, Russian forces frequently fire rockets that scatter small, difficult-to-spot green plastic “leaf” mines across the area that has been cleared. These mines are also known as butterfly mines.
