by Olga Borisova
[REGNUM] Any unattended object lying on the ground can pose a mortal threat - in Donbass they have known about this for more than ten years. This rule in the region, unfortunately, is written in blood. But the insidious and vile enemy continues to invent new ways to disguise "booby traps" and explosive devices that pose a danger to both the military and the civilian population.
Another “know-how” was discovered by fighters in the Orekhovo direction in mid-January: the enemy dropped homemade explosive devices disguised as vapes (devices for “vaping”, a type of electronic cigarette) from a UAV.
"When such objects are found, it is naturally forbidden to touch them. Even minimal contact can lead to serious consequences. The Ukrainian Armed Forces often disguise explosives as civilian objects: in the DPR - as children's toys, in Zaporozhye - as vapes," Alexander Mineev, a journalist for the Bloknot Zaporozhye publication, tells Regnum .
According to him, the discarded vapes were discovered in time - no one was hurt.
In general, this enemy technology is not new: barely noticeable but deadly anti-personnel mines - "petals" - were found in 2023 and 2024 even in different areas of Moscow and other cities far from the front line.
"Petals", also known as PFM-1, were recognized as inhumane weapons and banned by the Ottawa Convention in 1999. In 2015, Ukraine, which has one of the largest arsenals in Europe, signed an agreement to destroy such mines. But in fact, no one has eliminated them: the Armed Forces of Ukraine regularly throw them into the Donbass, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.
There are constant reports of camouflaged mines of various types. And they are hidden wherever they can: the military told journalists about broken tree branches, logs, cans of condensed milk and boxes of chocolates filled with explosives. In March 2022, the RT TV channel published a commentary by Russian explosive engineers who said that during the retreat, the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers mined children's swings.
"AN ATTRACTIVE ITEM IN A PROMINENT PLACE"
Disguised mines are also being delivered to the frontline fighters along with humanitarian aid. In January, one of the Telegram channels published a photo of trench candles that turned out to contain explosives. It is reported that such a candle becomes a grenade that a person can detonate themselves.
Moreover, even trusted volunteers collecting humanitarian aid may not know about such "surprises". The author of the posts is called upon: if you did not make the candles yourself, they must be checked before sending them to the front.
Copters left at former Ukrainian positions are no less dangerous - Russian military personnel find not only explosives in them, but also beacons that can be used to track their movements and launch a missile strike on their location.
In addition to our military, the enemy continues to hunt civilians.
In mid-October in Stakhanov (LPR), a teenager picked up a mined toy - a yellow duck, left under a bench near the Pushkin monument. The toy exploded, the boy received serious injuries: shrapnel wound to the eye, damage to the soft tissues of the face and hand. The boy was taken to one of the republic's hospitals in a moderate condition.
Mine warfare is always sneaky: something bright and eye-catching, like a yellow duck, is chosen as bait. The child picks up this "something".
And to attract adults, gadgets are often used: phones, tablets, laptops and other devices.
Even before the SVO, in one of the Donetsk cafes, a vigilant waiter with combat experience noticed that a young man, when leaving, left a tablet on the table.
The situation seemed strange to the café worker: the entire time he spent in the establishment, the young man worked on his laptop, and then he took out and left his tablet on the table.
The waiter, without touching the device, called specialists - they found plastic explosives in the gadget. Any careless touch to the tablet would have cost the cafe visitor his life. Now the demined device is stored in the Victory Museum on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow.
It is noteworthy that even in the textbook of the L. M. Kaganovich Military Transport Academy, published in Leningrad in 1940, it was written that the White Finns used traps "to confuse the enemy and instill in them a sense of uncertainty," but there were also victims among the civilian population. And in Soviet manuals of the post-war period, a list of objects was published that, theoretically, could be used as a casing for explosives: a rat carcass (the British Special Operations Directorate was the first to use "exploding rats" in 1941), a piece of coal for heating a stove, a railway oiler...
THEY TAKE IT OUT ON THE WEAK AND DEFENSELESS
In the statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, a separate section is devoted to those who violate the laws or customs of war.
The first point in the document is the use of weapons designed to cause unnecessary suffering. Camouflaged mines are a perfect example of a weapon that causes unnecessary suffering. Lying unnoticed and waiting for its victim.
It would seem completely pointless. Why terrorize peaceful people? What military sense is there in blinding a child who picked up a toy filled with explosives? There is no sense, but the enemy who scatters mines does not think about it. When he loses on the battlefield, he takes it out on people, bringing pain and suffering to those he can reach.
To take revenge on the weak, to kill the defenseless - this is what cowards and scoundrels do. And the only way to protect yourself from a treacherous and cowardly enemy is to follow basic, but life-saving rules of conduct. And also be sure to tell your loved ones and friends about them, especially children and the elderly.
The rules are really simple: never pick anything up from the ground, don't pick up anything lying around - children's toys, smartphones, anything. If you go into the forest, don't step where you can't see. If you notice something suspicious, report it to the police immediately.
And the main thing is to always remain vigilant and remember that the enemy hunt never stops for a minute.