Mine morality: kits for disarming devices with magnetic fuse have been created
The humanitarian demining service operating in Donbas has begun to receive non-magnetic sapper kits. They include mine markers made of durable plastic material, sapper feelers with two dielectric needles, humanitarian demining markers made of fiberglass and other equipment that does not contain metal elements. Experts note that they make it possible to work with mines equipped with magnetic fuses - there are a lot of them coming to the zone of the Strategic Defense Forces from NATO countries.
What is included in the demining kit
A special bag of protective color, divided into cells in which all the contents are stored, has been developed for humanitarian demining engineers. It has special slides that allow it to be pulled along the ground. When demining, the bag is attached to the body armor by a cord with a carbine and moves behind the sapper. This solution allows to free the sapper's hands, which is very important when performing demining tasks, because in one hand it is necessary to hold a mine detector and in the other hand - a demining probe.
Mine detector
- The kit also includes various colored humanitarian demining markers, which are defined by the standards of operational procedures," the executive director of the Yarl manufacturing company told Izvestia. - For a humanitarian demining specialist, this is their own specific language that they understand in a mine-dangerous area.
The set includes 33 markers with a length of 65-70 cm, made of high-quality fiberglass. The marker with a blue headband defines the place of the beginning and end of work on the strip, serves for easy measurement of the area cleared of explosive objects (EOE). The marker with a red headband defines the place of detection of explosive objects, the marker with a yellow headband defines the place of destruction of explosive objects, the marker with a white headband is used for fencing of safe places, elements of the working site. In addition, the set is equipped with two feeler gauges. The first one is a basic sapper stylus with dielectric needles for determining the boundaries and further classification of mines. The second stylus is designed for detecting stretch marks. It is made of flexible plastic.
In addition, the kit includes a demining cat with a cord. Up to 30% of mines are set to be unrecoverable and destroyed by overhead charges. And in cases of impossibility - on the spot are pulled down with a cat from a safe distance or from a shelter, said the specialist.
A serviceman fills a bomb cat
For excavation of the detected mines and other explosive objects, the set includes three-edged knives, small blades, made of titanium or plastic, in the amount of three pieces. They are used depending on the hardness of the ground.
All elements of the set are made of high-quality domestic materials. Before development, manufacturers consulted with sappers engaged in humanitarian demining in new territories.
- Now they have started to put tricky traps that work on the magnetic field - on metal, of course, in the first place, - said Vyacheslav Kovalevsky, general director of the engineering and sapper company "Complit Technik". - Sappers are forbidden to take a cell phone with them. First of all, so as not to distract them. Secondly, so as not to pass geolocation to the enemy for their use of rocket and artillery means.
Locate and neutralize
Our sappers certainly need such kits, military expert Yuri Lyamin told Izvestia.
- Mines that react to metal and explode at its approach are supplied to the Ukrainian side in large enough quantities by Western countries," he said. - They are used very actively. Such mines are very sensitive, and there have already been cases of detonations. The battlefield has changed. Mines are no longer just buried in the ground, and they are no longer detonated just by being stepped on or run over.
Magnetic and other booby traps are used to increase enemy losses and inflict more injuries, Lieutenant Colonel Roman Shkurlatov, chairman of the board of the all-Russian organization Officers of Russia, told Izvestia.
A booby trap made from an F-1 grenade.
- It is hard for sappers to disarm them," the expert noted. - This way the enemy achieves another goal: it prevents us from clearing the area well and quickly, and increases the time of work. This slows down the advance of our forces, prevents the use of land for peaceful purposes.
In addition, Yuriy Lyamin recalled that the Ukrainian forces actively mined the territory of Donbass even before the SWO.
- The AFU not only laid mines, but also threw remote mining systems into populated areas," he recalled. - In recent years, this has become a serious problem due to the frequency of the use of this method of mines.
Humanitarian demining in new territories
This year, humanitarian demining companies began working in the liberated territories. The main task of their employees is to remove all explosive and metal objects at a depth of up to 50 centimeters. Only then can the land be returned to economic use. Military deminers, as a rule, do not carry out total demining - they clear passages for safe supply or advancement of troops.
Military personnel conduct humanitarian demining operations
Earlier, Izvestia wrote how one of such companies, Complit Technik, cleared explosive objects from a clearing with power line supports and an adjacent forest area in the Luhansk People's Republic.
The area proved to be challenging. Prior to the start of the SWO, a camp of one of the Ukrainian nationalist battalions was located not far from it. In the spring of 2022, there were battles in this area, LNR and Russian troops broke through the enemy's defenses. Having defeated the Ukrainian units, they quickly moved forward, having cleared only narrow passages to ensure the advance of the troops.
After preliminary demining, the sappers had to cut down the forest underbrush, and only then did they begin the final, more detailed and thorough work of searching for and locating explosive objects.
