By Sergiy Chalyi
ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION, Ukraine (Reuters) – Sappers fresh from the front conducted mine clearance drills in southeastern Ukraine this week, a task that is proving crucial but painstakingly slow as Ukrainian troops try to advance on Russian forces.
As they trained on Wednesday, the sappers outlined the challenges they faced on the battlefield, offering an insight into why the counteroffensive has so far progressed slowly.
Tasked with clearing tens of thousands of Russian mines, the sappers have to worry about booby traps, bombs and mortar attacks. Using a metal detector is often futile because of the amount of shrapnel from unexploded ordnance strewn around.
“They (the mines) are stalling the speed of the advance as we have to work very carefully,” said Oleksandr, one of scores of sappers training at a location in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia that Kyiv’s military told Reuters not to disclose.
Oleksandr, who uses the call sign Agronomist, said NATO standards allowed for one person to advance seven square metres within four hours.
“Can you imagine that? However, that’s not the case here.” he said.
Ukraine has recaptured a string of villages but no big towns since launching its counteroffensive in the Russian-occupied south and east in early June. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has acknowledged progress has been slower than desired.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Ukrainian attacks in the south had intensified. Hours earlier, Zelenskiy had touted “very good results” from the front, without providing details.
Before the counteroffensive began, Russian occupying forces on the southern front had time to dig trenches and put down “dragon’s teeth” barricades, anti-tank ditches and mines.
At the training drills, a 37-year-old soldier with the call sign “Adam’s Apple” wore special foreign-made blast boots for mine clearance.
“I don’t know which country manufactured them, but they are critically important for sappers because if one steps onto an anti-personnel landmine … the boots will save the sapper’s legs,” he said.
He said he sometimes has to use a stick to probe for mines, advancing slowly when there is so much shrapnel on the ground that using a mine detector is useless.
Before the probing begins, he said, sappers must survey the area while standing, lying down and kneeling.
“The perspective differs, depending on the height,” he said. “If there are no booby traps, the sapper will examine the soil around his feet with the mine probe. If no mine is detected, he will move forward while keeping probing the soil.”
(Writing by Tom Balmforth, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
