The war in Ukraine has turned the country into one of the largest minefields in the world. According to information from Kiev, 30 percent of the area is now being mined by both the Russian and Ukrainian army. Both sides have large stockpiles of Soviet-era explosives.
“It’s hard to fathom the scale of this scourge,” says Baptiste Chapuis of Handicap International, who was recently in Ukraine. During the war it was impossible to determine exact numbers or map affected areas.
From a military point of view, the war in Ukraine marks an important return to the use of mines, said Stéphane Audrand, an international risk expert. He explains that mines are extremely useful for limiting enemy movement. They can also be moved quickly and easily. Most of the explosives came from the Russian side.
Anti-vehicle mines belong to the category of conventional weapons. Anti-personnel mines, on the other hand, are banned under international law and banned by the 1997 Ottawa Treaty. Ukraine is a signatory to this agreement, but Russia is not.
Minefields are part of the Russian defense for Russia. Moscow uses them extensively, combining anti-tank mines and anti-personnel mines with different activation mechanisms. Anti-personnel mines are used by all parties to a conflict, but not to the same extent. Their purpose is to kill or maim. Some mines are designed to slice limbs, others shred the abdomen.
In addition to anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, the parties to the conflict also make massive use of cluster munitions, which often go unnoticed. It is also banned under the 2008 Oslo Convention, but neither Moscow nor Kiev have ratified that agreement. There are also homemade booby traps, the explosives of which the Russians, for example, “mount” on animals and corpses.
With the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine last week, the danger from mines has increased further. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warns that the flood has washed away plastic mines on the banks of the Dnipro. We used to know where danger was, says Erik Tollefsen of the ICRC. Today we don’t know anymore.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
