Land Mines, Booby Traps, and Trip Wires Are Maiming Ukrainian Troops
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has revealed new technological advances for wartime.
Despite high-tech drones and missile systems, mines and tripwires are maiming soldiers the most.
Mines cause more wounds among troops than artillery, a Ukrainian medic told the NYT.
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine has showcased the horrific effects of some of the world's latest advancements in wartime technology from air and sea drones to advanced electronic warfare systems — but, according to reports from soldiers on the ground in Ukraine, land mines and booby traps are causing more damage.
Insider reported dense minefields are forcing Ukrainian troops to abandon their Western tanks and undertake the tedious and life-threatening work of demining fields rigged with explosives across areas as wide as 10 miles.
"You can no longer do anything with just a tank with some armor because the minefield is too deep, and sooner or later, it will stop, and then it will be destroyed by concentrated fire," Ukraine's Commander in Chief General Valery Zaluzhny told The Washington Post.
Instead, soldiers tasked with demining use long probes and metal detectors to painstakingly tap the earth along booby-trapped fields, identifying mines and clearing a narrow pathway for infantrymen to follow. But the job, while simple in concept, is anything but in practice.
Troops can locate boody traps by looking for nearby dead animals who have fallen for the tricks. At the same time, fiberglass rods are used instead of metal detectors to find electrically triggered mines, Insider previously reported. In instances where a mine cannot be removed, specialists will take atypical approaches to detonation, such as using a rope and grappling hook to snare trip wires from a distance.
Mines left by Russian troops in Ukraine are frequently buried with anti-handling devices that cause the internal explosives to detonate when touched, The New York Times reported. Ukrainian Major Maksym Prysyazhnyuk, a demining expert, told the outlet a common "trick for idiots" is being spotted by his teams — they come across anti-personnel mines buried just in front of loaded trip wires, targeting soldiers who might try to disable the wire.
The soldiers also contend with so-called jumping mines, which launch shrapnel after being stepped on, spraying nearby soldiers with pellets of plastic and metal. Green, plastic "leaf" mines, also called butterfly or petal mines, litter the area. Wounds caused by plastic mines are particularly difficult to treat, as medics cannot locate where plastic shrapnel is embedded in the body using traditional methods like X-rays.
"To clear mines, you should have a lot of motivation and a cool head," Prysyazhnyuk told the Times. "It's such delicate work, like of a surgeon, but at the same time, explosions are going off all around you."
A medic with the Ukrainian military told the Times that wounds caused by mines are more common among soldiers he treats than those caused by artillery.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a retired US general, has called attempting to break through Russia's defenses like trying to get through "20 kilometers of hell," Insider previously reported, as soldiers are forced to navigate rows of trenches, anti-tank traps, minefields, and barbed wire.
Representatives for Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, the Government of the Russian Federation, the United States Department of Defense, and the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
Russian troops aren't the only ones deploying antipersonnel mines as they continue their invasion of Ukraine. Insider previously reported Human Rights Watch this month urged Ukrainian officials to investigate reports of butterfly mines being used against Russian soldiers.
Source: Business Insider
