Mines are one of the biggest obstacles causing Ukraine’s slow offensive. Before Ukraine can get to the Russian enemy lines which is heavily mined, they have to open a gap in their own minefields which were laid to slow Russia’s advance. Then once they get to enemy lines, they are up against a belt of antitank mines, five rows deep, in front of a Russian position. Ukrainian sappers are working at night, practically hand clearing mines at huge risk to their lives. This is part of the painstaking work that goes on behind the scenes to decrease loss of Ukrainian lives but at the risk of the sappers' :( True courage 🇺🇦
Excerpts from the WSJ article, as it is behind a paywall.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-pivotal-mission-in-ukraines-counteroffensive-hunting-for-mines-78197558
The Pivotal Mission in Ukraine’s Counteroffensive: Hunting for Mines
Mines are proving one of the biggest challenges for Kyiv’s slow-moving counteroffensive
The Ukrainian soldiers set off in pitch black, stealing through shell-cratered fields to carry out one of the most important tasks of the counteroffensive—and one of the most dangerous.
Armed with a metal detector, a shovel and a grappling hook, the combat engineers—known as sappers—hunt for mines along the front line with Russian forces, while trying to remain undetected by the enemy nearby.
“You can’t afford to be nervous,” said a 49-year-old sapper with the call sign Fisherman who leads a group of 50 within Ukraine’s 68th Jaeger Brigade.
After an initial thrust using Western-donated tanks and other armored vehicles foundered in a Russian minefield in early June, Ukrainian forces turned to men like Fisherman to clear a way forward.
Russia built some of the most extensive battlefield fortifications seen since the World Wars during the months that Western forces were training and equipping Kyiv’s forces to go on the offensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lamented that Western allies didn’t move faster, giving Russia time to mine an area larger than California.
Among the solutions are the Mine Clearing Line Charge, which launches a small rocket with a line of explosive charges across a minefield and is detonated to trigger any mines nearby. Ukraine already has a Soviet-developed equivalent. The Mine Clearing Line Charge, or Miclic, can clear a corridor of up to 328 feet long through minefields, and wide enough to safely accommodate tanks or personnel carriers. It works by launching a hydraulic rocket carrying a line of C-4 explosive charges behind. As they detonate, they also trigger mines within range, including antipersonnel mines and magnetically activated mines. The Miclic is easily towed wherever it’s needed.
One of the six Leopard 2R armored mine-clearing vehicles provided to Ukraine by Finland was destroyed in the early days of the counteroffensive and two were damaged, according to Oryx, an independent team of analysts tracking both sides’ losses in the war.
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“When we go into occupied territory, we are blind,” said Buba.
Wearing night-vision goggles, the sappers scan the ground in front of them with a metal detector. At times they get so close to Russian positions they can hear the voices of their enemies. When the metal detector picks up a signal, they probe the earth to establish what lies beneath. There is no room for nerves. “Your hands can’t shake,” said Fisherman, wearing a T-shirt with the words “Good evening, we are from Ukraine.”
Often the metal detected is harmless shrapnel that litters fields along the front line in southern Ukraine. But if it is a mine, the sappers uncover it using a spade with a short handle before attaching a grappling hook with a cord.
From a safe distance, they tug at the cord to dislodge the antitank mine. Russian forces often place an antipersonnel mine underneath, which is triggered when the antitank mine is removed. “There is always a risk,” said Buba.
Tripwires aren’t visible in the dark, so the sappers sometimes wait until dawn to go out and search for them. For that, Fisherman said, the best tool is a reed: taut but yielding enough not to trigger a trip wire. “Nobody has come up with a tool better than this,” he said, plucking a reed from the bank of a river flowing past. The men were on a break from front-line duties and were staying in a vacant house while awaiting further orders.
Sappers have a short life expectancy, Fisherman said. Despite that, he said he hasn’t lost a single man to a mine so far. That, he considers his greatest achievement.
“I didn’t come here to be a hero,” he said. “I just came here to do my job: to win the war.”