Sappers neutralized more than 500,000 APU shells in the Kursk region

Servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces, working on mine clearance in the Kursk region, defused more than 500,000 explosive shells left by the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). Izvestia showed footage of the work of Russian fighters.

At the moment, more than 40 settlements have been cleared and more than 55 thousand hectares have been cleared, which is about 15% of the plan. Last week alone, about 2 hectares, over 800 km of roads and 12.6 thousand buildings were neutralized by the forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia and the Russian National Guard.

"There are more divisions. The president [of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin] came and said to increase [divisions]. The coverage of the territory is large. We are still [clearing] settlements, fields, roads and everything else. There are still many places to check," said the commander of the engineering and sapper platoon of the engineering and sapper company of the Bars-Kursk brigade with the call sign Base.

During a hasty retreat, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters scattered ammunition and went to various tricks. So, during the retreat, they mined the houses of local residents, put tripwires on the gates and hid explosives in household items. According to the platoon commander, the enemy also hid shells in toys, foliage and even chocolate, as well as "foamed" explosive devices or put them under a slate.

"It is especially difficult for sappers to work now — the grass is high. A little further from the line of combat, fields are most often cleared at the request of local farmers. Most likely, pyrotechnics will have to check them more than once," said Izvestia correspondent Tatiana Simonenkova.

Nevertheless, some shells still remain in the areas of the Kursk border area. In particular, on June 11, in the village of Sheptukhovka in the Korenevsky district, two combine harvesters that were carrying out agricultural work were damaged by enemy shells.

One of the farmers, 18-year-old Ivan Tatarenko, reported that there were mines in the field where the work was carried out, which were detonated at the moment when he was in the passenger seat of the combine. As a result of the incident, he received first and second degree burns. Denis Dornev, the second combine harvester, who was also injured by an explosion of enemy ammunition during corn harvesting, noted that everything happened unexpectedly.

After the explosion, the farmers turned to military doctors and, after receiving first aid, were hospitalized in the central district Kurchatov hospital. The Main Military Investigation Directorate (GVSU) of the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case on this fact in connection with a terrorist attack against the civilian population of the Kursk region.

"They found an anti-personnel mine disguised as a child's toy"

How Russian sappers are clearing the liberated territories after the fighting

On June 27, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that military personnel of the 91st Engineer and Sapper Regiment of the North group of forces had begun the mine clearance process in the Kursk region. The ministry noted that during the work, the Russian military used Uran-6 robotic systems.