US volunteer in Ukraine describes how Russian mines are a gamechanger.

 

An Ukrainian mine clearing soldier with a Russian anti-tank mine in the foreground. Business Insider. 

A US volunteer in Ukraine has described how Russian mines are a gamechanger in the conflict. Business Insider. A former Special Forces solider that works with a landmine removal organization described the massive numbers of mines deployed in Ukraine. Ryan Hendrickson was quoted as saying "everything is mined" and said that in one field alone he and his team found over 700 anti-tank mines. He also said that Ukraine has so many land mines deployed that they might never all be cleared. Hendrickson and his team work in rear areas but Ukrainian troops have to operate on the front line and have taken heavy casualties. Both Ukrainian and American generals have confirmed that land mines are a major reason why the Ukrainian offensive has not achieved its goals. 

My Comment:

I'm of two minds on this. I do think that western media is overstating the effect landmines have on the battlefield and massively underreporting the massive advantage Russia has in artillery, air support, armor and pure numbers of soldiers. Without these things the mines alone would not have been enough to stop the offensive. 

With that being said, it is very clear that the mines have played a major role in slowing and stopping the Ukraine offensive. Indeed, they, along with artillery, have pretty much stopped Ukraine from using their armor and forced a switch to "mosquito" tactics which involve small squads of soldiers advancing feet at a time. This has drastically reduced armor casualties but also massively increased casualties among Ukrainian soldiers. 

Complicating things was the fact that many of Ukraine's mine clearing vehicles were destroyed in the early part of the offensive. Indeed, the Finish provided Leopard 2r mine clearing variants were destroyed right away due to artillery, mines and rockets. That means that unprotected infantry have to go out and clear the mines personally, which is basically a death sentence in combat. 

Russia's extreme defenses are just another reason why Ukraine's offensive was ill advised at best and an absolute disaster at worst. Indeed, if Ukraine had invested more in mines and defenses they could have done massive damage to Russia's war machine. But that wasn't what the powers that be in the West wanted, they wanted big showy offensives, which played right into the hands of the Russians. 

I know why Ukraine did what they did, they were attempting to isolate Crimea. They wanted to drive to the Sea of Azov and that, combined with their attacks on the Kerch Bridge, would have cut off the region and forced Russia to either escalate dramatically, possibly drawing NATO into the war, or come to some kind of negotiated settlement. It failed, obviously, and may have even cost Ukraine the war. 

Regardless of the outcome of the war, the massive minefields left over will be a major problem for whoever controls the region after it. These mines will be there until someone clears them out or they explode which means they will be killing people long after the war. And clearing those mines will take an extreme amount of time and effort and there is always a chance of missing them. Given the huge number of artillery shells and now cluster bomblets along with the mines people will continue to be mauled and killed by these weapons long after the war ends...