Minefields slow Ukrainian counter-offensive
Although the Ukrainians defend themselves against it, the rhythm of their counter-offensive is slow, slowed down in particular by completely mined fields. “I could never have imagined something like this”testified a Ukrainian rescuer in an article from New York Times.
The American daily recalls that mines are weapons of war used intensively by the Russians in Afghanistan, Chechnya, as well as at the start of the invasion of Donbass in 2014. But the minefields in the south of the Ukraine are larger and more complex than previously known, according to soldiers who have entered these fields.
The deminers comb the fields at night, before the soldiers try to cross them. The demining teams start by clearing a path about 600 meters wide, explains the New York Times. They then turn around to clear a few hundred more meters along the path, “to allow two soldiers to walk shoulder to shoulder while carrying a stretcher”.
Laborious and dangerous work, especially since the mines are diverse. Fields are usually booby-trapped with anti-handling devices, which detonate mines when lifted or when a tripwire is pulled. But more sophisticated explosives are also prevalent in Ukrainian fields, such as bouncing mines which, when stepped on, propel the body of the mine to human height and explode.
Even once the paths have been cleared, the danger remains present. Russian forces often fire, according to Maksym Prysyazhnyuk, a Ukrainian deminer interviewed by the New York Timesrockets that scatter small, hard-to-spot green plastic mines in normally cleared areas.