Areas in front of Russian defenses to the south and east are heavily mined
July 15, 2023 at 3:39 pm EDT
During an exercise last week in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, soldiers prepare to clear an anti-tank mine by removing the detonator with a rope. (Ed Ram for The Washington Post) Comment on this storyComment
SAPORIZHZHYA REGION, Ukraine — In a laboriously slow process that sets the pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, small groups of frontline engineers are crawling across minefields — sometimes literally on their bellies — to detonate Russia’s defenses and clear the way for troops to advance .
The long preparation of the counter-offensive, which began about a month ago over several sectors of the battlefield in the east and south of the country, has given the Russians time to prepare, soldiers said. Areas between 3 and 10 miles in front of the main Russian bases are heavily mined with anti-tank and anti-personnel mines and tripwires. These defenses could have successfully stopped the Ukrainian advance, they said.
As a result, Kyiv’s armed forces have changed their strategy, Ukrainian military officials said. Instead of attempting to break through with the infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks that Western allies have deployed to support Ukraine in this counteroffensive, the units are advancing slowly and on foot.
“You can’t do anything with even a little armored tank, because the minefield is too deep, and sooner or later it will stop, and then it will be destroyed by concentrated fire,” General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s military chief, said in a recent Interview with the Washington Post.
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Ukraine’s fighting in minefields has exposed weaknesses in personnel carriers and tanks – particularly the newly arrived American Bradley Fighting Vehicles and German Leopard tanks – which officials have hailed as crucial to Ukraine’s recapture of occupied territories from the Russians. The vehicles were praised by the soldiers — even after hitting mines, most of those inside survived with only minor injuries — but alone they could not breach Russia’s defenses. Zaluzhny said modern fighter jets like the US-made F-16 and other systems are needed to better support ground operations.
“We need special equipment, we need special long-distance demining equipment,” Zaluzhny said, adding that Ukraine uses US-provided M58 Mine Clearing Line Charge (MICLIC) systems, but they will also be destroyed, yes. Nothing wrong with that. It takes a lot of them.”
In a speech late Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the difficulty of moving forward. “We must all be very clear – as clear as possible – that Russian forces in our southern and eastern areas are doing everything they can to stop our warriors,” he said. “And every thousand meters of advance, every success of each of our combat brigades deserves gratitude.”
A senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity like others to discuss sensitive military matters, said Kiev received less than 15 percent of the amount of demining and technical material, including MICLICs, that it had previously received from Western partners had requested the counteroffensive. Some of that equipment only arrived last week, the official said.
Defense Ministers Oleksii Reznikov and Zaluzhny told The Post that they have informed their Western counterparts that they urgently need more demining systems, such as torpedo-explosive charges from Bangalore. Ukraine held back part of the brigades and Western weapons prepared for the counteroffensive as it attempts to enter the minefields.
Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “opens maps to me and says, ‘Look, there’s nothing here, there’s nothing here, there’s nothing more here,'” Zaluzhny said. “Minefields are one of the problems that certainly affect the pace of the offensive. That’s a problem we see. Could it have been solved faster? It could be. How could it be solved? At least General Milley knows. The other question is: can he help with that? I don’t know.”
US officials said they had provided Ukraine with almost any type of equipment it requested in advance of the counteroffensive. Officials warned that it may not always be possible to provide the quantities Ukraine requires, but said Washington is working with the MICLIC systems in particular to soon provide not only more of the system but also the cargoes that will support it a long line of explosive charges detonating mines.
Officials added that the US decision to supply Ukraine with controversial cluster munitions will give Kiev fire superiority for the first time in this conflict and will give Ukrainians the right time and space to use the technical equipment they already have have to use.
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Ukrainian military personnel on the ground also reported reluctance to deploy the larger, more advanced demining equipment. Because Ukrainians believe there are so few demining systems, they have become an easier target for Russian forces, who have made their attacks a priority. The depth and density of the minefields pose a particular challenge along the southern front line of Zaporizhia, where Russians generally expected the Ukrainians to attack and attempt to sever a land corridor through occupied territory that marks Russia’s border with Crimea , which connects the Ukrainian peninsula and Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
The area consists mostly of wide, open fields and offers little opportunity for the Ukrainians to camouflage their larger equipment and vehicles. And the Russians chose the high ground for their positions, soldiers said.
A commander – the Post identifies him by his call sign Oskar, according to Ukrainian military protocol – of an engineer and engineer unit of Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Brigade said his group received a German-supplied Wisent minesweeper, which they used in advance of the start of the Counter-offensive in the Zaporizhia region. The tank and similar Soviet models successfully paved some avenues for the brigade’s units on their first push.
“But now their use is already ineffective, because the enemy is expecting the appearance of such equipment, which is massive, which is noisy, which is easy to see and, accordingly, to hit,” said Oskar.
Another officer of the 47th Brigade said that on the first day of the counter-offensive, some units of the brigade, riding in Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Leopard Main Battle Tanks, erroneously headed the wrong way, namely into a minefield instead of one that the sappers had prepared advance payment.
Obstacle clearance vehicles were at the front of the columns, but the group was forced to stop when vehicles in the rear unexpectedly encountered mines and became trapped. The chaos led to a gathering of vehicles in one spot. The Russians then began attacking the Ukrainians from helicopters and using anti-tank missiles, severely damaging or destroying several personnel carriers and tanks. According to the Ukrainian officer, some units, leaving their equipment behind, still managed to take Russian positions in the trenches.
“If the enemy sees even a Leopard tank and special technical equipment in front of them, they will destroy the special equipment first,” he said. “Because without them, none of the others will exist. And in just a few days of the offensive, several such vehicles were destroyed along with their crews.”
Since the Russians have drones in the sky to keep an eye out for demining systems to attack with artillery and missiles, the Ukrainians are for now trying to save what few they have by doing the job manually. Engineer units – sometimes a group of as few as four – They often wait for dusk to give way, as they are too visible in daylight and can be seen in the dark with night vision goggles.
Walking with a metal detector is unrealistic, pioneers said, because they are too visible. So they crawl and rely on their sight to spot mines.
“It slows us down a lot, because the work of a sapper takes time and rest,” said Lt. Col. Mykola Moroz, the commander of the engineer and engineer battalion of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade. “Under these circumstances, it is not possible to do our job.”
The Russians are also able to use drones to drop more mines, replanting areas that the Ukrainians had cleared. And as soon as the Ukrainians reach the Russian position and take the new position, it could also be mined. Also, because they travel on foot rather than in their new western vehicles, the soldiers said replenishing ammunition stocks and evacuating the wounded pose more of a challenge.
“We have prepared, but the Russians have also prepared,” said Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense minister. “They understand that tech gear is currently solving a key problem and changing the game, so they want to destroy everything first.” I’ve sent another letter to all our partners so we can focus on that now.”
Anastacia Galouchka contributed to this report.
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