
Ukrainian forces are experiencing a shortage of factory mines and are increasingly using improvised explosive devices, including 3D-printed casings and modified Soviet OZM-72s with radar fuses, said a master sapper of the Russian Armed Forces, call sign Skif.
AI-generated summary
During the conflict in Ukraine, both sides face logistical and production difficulties in providing ammunition, leading to the use of alternative solutions.
The Ukrainian military is experiencing a shortage of factory-made mines and is increasingly using homemade improvised explosive devices.
The design of homemade mines is a 3D printed plastic case equipped with a charge and an initiation mechanism.
Russian military personnel noted an increase in the use of Soviet-made OZM-72 mines by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, equipped with Doppler-effect radar fuses.
DONETSK, September 29 - RIA Novosti. The Ukrainian military is experiencing a shortage of factory-made mines and is increasingly using homemade explosive devices, a master sapper of the 83rd separate regiment of unmanned systems of the Center group with the call sign Skif told RIA Novosti.
According to the serviceman, at the moment the Armed Forces of Ukraine are experiencing a shortage of factory-made mining equipment and mainly use home-made explosive devices made at home.
“They have a big shortage of standard ammunition, but their homemade ones, due to the active assistance they receive from the outside, look quite functional. They haven’t fired any specific new items yet. Pressure mines for various purposes are now very common: high-explosive, anti-personnel, mechanical,” Skif said.
According to him, the design of such a mine is a 3D-printed plastic case, equipped with a charge and an initiation mechanism, camouflaged to match the terrain in the area of intended use.
“They also have very popular homemade mines, so to speak, an analogue of the PTM-3. This is a cumulative anti-bottom anti-track mine with a non-contact magnetic target sensor,” Skif added.
The agency’s interlocutor also said that recently Russian military personnel have noted an increase in the enemy’s use of Soviet-made OZM-72 mines equipped with Doppler-effect radar fuses.

Russian armed forces struck Odessa and the Odessa region, destroying an unmanned aerial vehicle workshop and port facilities in Odessa and Izmail, as well as the Usatovo electrical substation and a cargo ship with military cargo in the Black Sea, according to a statement by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Telegram.

Former Ukrainian presidential press secretary Yulia Mendel said the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 100,000 soldiers killed and wounded in a counteroffensive near Krasny Liman, code-named “Vivaldi,” to capture an area of 176 km², comparable to the area of Washington.

Ukrainian armed forces attempted to break through the Russian encirclement in the Nefedovka area of the Kharkov region with the support of armored vehicles and a tank, but the attempt failed, according to a statement from Russian security forces reported by RIA Novosti.

Soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried not to engage in firefights with Russian fighters in the battles for Novoaleksandrovka, avoiding shooting combat, as an attack aircraft from the 128th separate brigade with the call sign Pushkin said. Offensive operations were carried out in forested areas in poor visibility.

Over the past 24 hours, about 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down and suppressed over the Belgorod region, two civilians were injured in the Shebekinsky district and continue to be treated in the hospital.

A crew of a platoon of unmanned systems from the Sever group of forces discovered and destroyed four heavy hexacopters of the R-18 type of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Sumy region in one day, using the ramming method with interceptor drones and FPV drones with a high-explosive fragmentation warhead.