Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said that during the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military sometimes encounter as many as five Russian mines per square metre of territory.
Source: Reznikov in a comment to The Guardian
Quote: "Today, Ukraine is the most heavily mined country in the world. Hundreds of kilometres of minefields, millions of explosive devices, in some parts of the frontline up to five mines per square metre.
Russian minefields are a serious obstacle for our troops, but not insurmountable. We have skilled sappers and modern equipment, but they are extremely insufficient for the front that stretches hundreds of kilometres in the east and south of Ukraine."
Details: Reznikov said that the huge minefields can be overcome, but it is critical that allies "expand and expedite" the training already being undertaken by some countries, including the UK.
The Guardian noted that the number of bomb disposal experts in the Ukrainian Armed Forces was insufficient to break through the complex Russian defences on the vast 600-mile (1,000-kilometre) front, where engineer units were targeted by heavy fire.
Serhii Ryzhenko, the chief doctor at Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, where many of the most seriously wounded are being treated, said he was seeing 50 to 100 soldiers a day, with mines the second most common cause of injury after artillery.
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philly_jake on August 13rd, 2023 at 22:59 UTC »
I think everyone here hopeful of a miracle clearing technique needs to sober up. This is an impossible problem while Russian artillery is in range. Even without being shelled or hit by a KA-52, this will take years to decades to de-mine. Mines are a thousand times more expensive to clean up than they are to deploy, it’s a fundamental advantage to whichever side is willing to salt the earth (the invading force, like the US was in Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos).
ac13332 on August 13rd, 2023 at 21:50 UTC »
The whole war is sickening, but one thing that kinda breaks my heart more than anything is that once this is over, for a decade or more we'll hear stories of civilians, farmers, children being blown up by left over mines.
EurekasCashel on August 13rd, 2023 at 18:20 UTC »
That is so many mines! A square meter is about half of a twin sized bed. Just trying to imagine how slow the going would be to clear that density.