Russian and Ukrainian use of banned mines escalates conflict
Russians, and to a lesser extent Ukrainians, are using anti-personnel mines banned by the Ottawa Treaty on a massive scale. Furthermore, they are making these mines even more dangerous through additional upgrades to the PFM-1 butterfly mines. Here's why and how they do it.
It is worth noting that Russia never signed the Ottawa Treaty, while Ukraine did so on February 24, 1999, and ratified it on December 27, 2005. In hindsight, this may have been a mistake, as the disposed stockpiles of anti-personnel mines could have significantly bolstered Ukraine's defensive capabilities against Russia. Currently, Ukrainians are producing improvised anti-personnel mines known as "Gingerbread", but these do not replace stockpiles accumulated over decades.
The Russians did not face this problem and might still possess some stockpiles from the Soviet era. The Russian standard for anti-personnel mines deployed by multiple rocket launcher systems is the PFM-1. Currently, however, remote-controlled ground rovers or drones are also used to distribute them over areas.
PFM-1 mines are difficult to detect on their own, and the Russians have started camouflaging them by covering them with soil and attaching leaves or forest undergrowth using, for example, double-sided tape. Finding such mines as in the pictures above is almost impossible.
PFM-1 mines - "Butterfly mine" from the East
Anti-personnel mines PFM-1, also known as "blue parrot" in NATO codes and often called "butterfly mines," are a Soviet-era copy of American BLU-43 mines.
These are very small mines measuring about 13 cm in length, less than 2.5 cm in width, and about 5 cm in height, weighing about 85 grams, with approximately 37 grams of liquid explosive material VS6-D or VS-60D. They are detonated by a pressure igniter MVDM/VGM-572, which requires only about 5 kg of pressure to activate. Over time, a PFM-1S mine with a built-in self-destruct mechanism was developed, designed to detonate the mine 40 hours after arming.
This mine is very dangerous; while it may not kill an adult human, it can cause the loss of a foot or leg. Such injuries force the involvement of other soldiers to help the wounded, which negatively impacts morale and combat effectiveness.
