The nightmare of the Ukrainian army's counterattack, the Russian army's "one hand" minefield | the Ukrainian army | one hand
According to a report on the Russian television website on July 17th, the minefields of the Russian military have become an insurmountable obstacle for the Ukrainian military due to dense landmines and a lack of minesweeping equipment. American media say that the Ukrainian military itself acknowledges this.
According to the report, The Washington Post quoted some Ukrainian soldiers as saying that the Russian minefield has become a serious obstacle for the Ukrainian military's counterattack. The depth of the minefield in front of the main Russian military stronghold is approximately 4.8 to 16 kilometers. The mining density of Zaporizhzhia is particularly high.
The Zaporizhzhia area is mainly open land, which is not conducive to the Ukrainian army's masking of large equipment such as minesweepers. At the same time, the Russian military positions have a higher terrain and obvious advantages. The newspaper pointed out that the actual combat has exposed the weaknesses of the equipment used by Ukraine.
Shortage of Ukrainian military demining equipment
The Washington Post reported that the Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Zaluzhne, recently talked about the shortage of demining equipment. He said, "The minefield is definitely one of the issues that affects the speed of the attack. It is impossible to achieve any goals with just one armored tank. The minefield is too vast, and the tank will eventually stop and be destroyed by a large amount of artillery fire." At the same time, an unnamed Ukrainian high-ranking official told the newspaper that before the counterattack, Kiev received less than 15% of its requested amount of minesweeping equipment from NATO countries.
According to reports, Russian experts believe that the Ukrainian military does lack modern chemical equipment. In addition, the performance of the equipment received by the Ukrainian army did not meet the expectations of the West and Kiev.
Sergei Suvorov, Deputy Doctor of Military Science of Russia, commented, "Pay attention to the videos circulating through public channels. The Ukrainian army's engineering vehicles and tanks have had a large number of mine sweepers destroyed. These mine sweepers should have easily dealt with our landmines, such as TM-62. From this, two conclusions can be drawn: either the Ukrainian army's crew using them lacks experience, or they do not match the actual situation on the battlefield today."
On May 19th, Ukrainian soldiers cleared mines in the Kharkiv area.
Retired Colonel Anatoly Matvechuk stated that the actions of the Russian engineering forces have been effective, and since the end of last year, they have used ceasefire breaks to lay mines in the vast area near the contact line. He said, "These minefields are filled with anti tank and anti infantry landmines, and there are several lines of defense behind them. Any attempt to break through these defenses inevitably leads to significant losses."
Military expert Victor Litovkin also pointed out that minefields are of great significance in disrupting the Ukrainian counterattack. "The minefield cannot be bypassed. If our enemy is eager to attack, they have no choice but to try to break through in some way. However, even after passing through the minefield and successfully advancing, the enemy still faces the risk of being hit by our aviation and artillery firepower.".
Russian military achieves remote mine laying
According to the report, it is worth noting that a video released on the website of the German magazine Der Spiegel on July 16th introduced the situation of crossing a Russian minefield. The video shows that some channels between the minefields allow the Ukrainian army to attack the Russian defense fortifications. However, mine clearance is a long-term task, and the Ukrainian military is afraid of being severely injured or killed by landmines. In addition, the Russian military also has a unique "farming" remote mine laying system in their arsenal, which can mine in areas equivalent to several football fields.
According to the social media platform Telegraph, the system is currently being frequently used in Zaporizhzhia. The "Farming" remote mine laying system was developed by the Tula "Alloy" research and production consortium, installed on the Kamaz chassis, and equipped with 50 122mm unguided rockets. Every 25 rockets are packed in a box, and after each box is fired, it is quickly replaced along with the box. Farming can complete a mine laying in 3 minutes.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the "cultivation" remote mine laying system is equipped with meteorological instruments, navigation systems, and electronic maps indicating the location of mine laying. The system is capable of deploying anti tank and anti infantry landmines within a range of 15 kilometers.
These smart landmines equipped with seismic sensors can distinguish the footsteps of humans and animals, let alone armored vehicles. One of its main functions is to remotely activate and sleep some or the entire minefield through an encrypted wireless communication channel. Once the enemy is trapped in this minefield, it is almost impossible to escape.
However, the Russian military still most commonly uses special mine laying vehicles equipped with automatic ammunition delivery devices. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that tracked mine laying vehicles are used in the military for large-scale mine laying. A mine laying vehicle can lay 208 landmines at a distance of 4.5 meters or 5 meters at a time.
Litovkin stated that the Ukrainian military's attempt to break through the Russian defense line in the summer was unsuccessful, which confirmed the effectiveness of Russian engineering equipment and the high quality of landmines.
He said, "Special military operations have proven that the minelaying equipment produced by the Soviet Union and Russia can perform tasks excellently. The quality of landmines is also very good, and they have successfully destroyed many Western equipment."
