In the Donbass, imminent assault in mined terrain

The region of eastern Ukraine, where a decisive battle in the conflict is announced, is one of the most mined in the world. And the war unleashed by Russia has spread the scourge to the whole country.

Hampered in its expansionist ambitions by the Ukrainian resistance in Kyiv, Russian troops received the order at the end of March to withdraw and concentrate their efforts on eastern Ukraine and in particular the Donbass region, bordering Russia . An assault should come “very soon”, according to the Ukrainian army, in this area already partially held since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists who had proclaimed “people’s republics” in Donetsk and Luhansk. But Vladimir Putin’s army could see its progress disrupted by a major obstacle.

According to concordant sources, the Ukrainian troops undertook to undermine the strategic axes which the enemy could borrow, in particular the bridges and the roads. So mines were laid on one of the last bridges to cross the Seversky Donets River, which flows near the town of Izium where most of the Russian soldiers are massed – the other bridges having been destroyed by the Ukrainians. What to reinforce the concern of the humanitarian associations which operate in Ukraine, for which the problem of the mines…