Land mines playing a crucial role for Ukraine

Ukraine’s use of land mines has been critical in the successful destruction of hundreds of Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers, America’s top military chief has disclosed. “Land mines are being effectively used by the Ukrainian forces to shape the avenues of approach by Russian armoured forces,” General Mark Milley, chairman of the joints chiefs of staff, told Congress. Strategically placed mines outside Kyiv and elsewhere had forced the Russians to deploy their tanks through narrow routes, providing easy pickings for the Ukrainian military. The strategy had put the Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles into specific “engagement areas”, making them “vulnerable to the 60,000 anti-tank weapons systems that we’re providing to the Ukrainians,” Milley told the Senate armed services committee. “That’s one of the reasons why you see column after column of Russian vehicles that are destroyed,” he said. Ukraine’s armed forces have claimed that nearly 700 Russian tanks have been destroyed since the invasion began on February 24, as well as more than 1,860 armoured personnel carriers, 1,320 other vehicles, 330 artillery systems and 107 multiple launch rocket systems. The horrific scenes that emerged from Bucha, the town outside Kyiv, following the withdrawal of Russian troops, led to a worldwide outcry over the killings of so many civilians. But the images also showed a long line of burnt-out tanks and armoured vehicles, destroyed by a combination of land mines and anti-tank weapons. The use of land mines in war has become increasingly controversial because of the threat posed to civilians by unexploded devices that remain buried for years. However, the focus of global attempts to ban such systems has been on anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs that can litter the battlefield for years. Anti-land mine campaigners have claimed that more than 7,000 people were killed or injured by land mines of all types in 2020. More than 160 countries have signed a 1997 treaty prohibiting the use, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines. Neither the US nor Russia are signatories. Ukraine signed the treaty in 1999. Anti-tank mines are not covered by the treaty. Human Rights Watch reported last month that Russian troops had used anti-personnel mines around Kharkiv. The mines discovered y Ukrainian explosive ordnance disposal experts were named as POM-3 systems, launched by rocket and fitted with a seismic sensor to detect anyone approaching. The POM-3 has an explosive charge capable of killing or maiming anyone within a range of about 50ft. The US has been reluctant to sign the land-mine treaty because of the widespread use of such systems along the South Korea border to deter an invasion from North Korea. President Biden’s administration is currently reviewing the US land-mine policy.