‘Explosive Traps’: EOD Units Hunt for Russian Mines and Shells Inside Ukraine

by Павло Павлович

Editor’s note: the author asked that we publish his name in Ukrainian. The English version is Pavlo Pavlovych. He serves with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russian forces are using a mix of mines and shells to create deadly explosive traps inside Ukraine. A Ukrainian army officer, an expert in explosive ordnance, took pictures of what his unit found.

The Russians place the mines and shells together, wrote the officer, who calls himself Max.

“We keep demining our land,” Max wrote. The Russian army “uses a lot of non controlled mines/shells combined with each other to create traps, so it’s more dangerous for us to demine. It takes a lot of skill and experience.”

It is not enough to completely liberate Ukraine from the occupiers. To ensure a return to a safe and peaceful life, every day brave Ukrainian sappers clear our land of mines.
Photo by @kms_d4k pic.twitter.com/cKpK1iTt7N

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) October 11, 2022

In one day recently, the unit cleared 132 TM-62 devices.

The TM-62 is a Soviet-era anti-tank mine. It has a 17-pound charge, and can blast through the hull of a tank. Some of them can explode from vibrations.

“Day by day, step be step we demined our lands for militarily and civilian use,” Max wrote.