2023-09-06 05:15:17
It was a night in July, three or four deminers and as many Ukrainian scouts were sneaking on foot – and more often still crawling – towards the Russian-occupied village of Piatykhatky, in the Zaporizhia region, in the south of the country. They had come so close to the guard post that they could hear the sentries talking among themselves. At dawn, a corridor had been demined towards the enemy positions: the Ukrainian troops had been able to rush in and retake the small destroyed town, one house after another. “The Russians expected to see heavy equipment, tanks, large formations. This light operation took them by surprise. To tell the truth, we hadn’t planned it either: we seized the windfall”, recalls Bogdan, 48, a deminer with the 128th Brigade.
A trainer from the Swiss Demining Foundation and Ukrainian deminers in operation in the Chernihiv region (Ukraine), September 8, 2022. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR “THE WORLD”
For the general staff in kyiv, the breakthrough around Piatykhatky, however modest, was one of the revelations of the counter-offensive. Contrary to forecasts, most of the Ukrainian advances in the south were victorious in areas where Western heavy machinery – so coveted by kyiv – had not been used. Some battalions have thus received the order to put them away initially to give priority to small units, supported by mine clearance teams.
Since then, the counter-offensive has turned into a slow, painful man’s march, in the middle of bare plains with nothing to hide. On August 29, the liberation announced by Ukraine of Robotyne, another village in the region, would constitute a real breakthrough of the Russian defense lines. Main obstacle to the Ukrainian counter-offensive: the minefields.
“Inexhaustible Stocks”
The camp, where the ten sappers of the 128th Ukrainian brigade have settled, does not necessarily resemble the idea one has of a military barracks: an opulent villa, on the edge of a small town. From the balcony, the Russian positions can be guessed on the horizon, at the end of one of these immense and smooth plains, like an invitation to launch the assault. It is a mirage: these steppes are, in reality, the famous barriers of mines, deep from five to fifteen kilometers, which encircle the lines of Russian defense and slow down the Ukrainian armored vehicles.
TMK-2 is a Soviet steel-jacketed anti-tank mine. It was manufactured in 1955 and has an explosive charge of 6.5 kilograms. RAFAEL YAGHOBZADEH FOR “THE WORLD”
“Initially, we did not expect such a density of explosives on such a large surface, we had never seen that, it was almost inconceivable in terms of equipment. But Moscow has inexhaustible stocks, 90% dating from the Soviet Union. They sow them like wheat, without counting”, explains Maksim, 48, a career soldier and sapper chief at the 128th brigade.
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