Anti-tank mines, often abbreviated to AT mines, are still an adequate defense for Ukrainian and Russian forces battling for control in various parts of Ukraine.
The mines are strategically placed and hidden so tanks and other military vehicles are destroyed or damaged as they approach enemy territory.
AT mines are designed to create a large explosive charge.
While they can often wholly destroy vehicles if they cause damage to their chassis, they are also effective at detracking tanks and making them inoperable.
Video footage has emerged throughout the Ukraine war showing the tanks making it difficult for vehicles used by both sides of the conflict to cross bridges and break through the front line – and one such video was shared on social media back in the summer as fighting raged.
Ukraine Is Using ‘Fields of Death’ to Kill Putin’s Tanks
In the video from back in the summer, we see the moment that Ukrainian mines destroyed Russian tanks operating on the banks of the Dnipro River.
The video shows the tank crossing over a bridge and arriving on the left bank of the Dnipro River.
The tank barely makes it several dozen feet inland before it appears to hit a mine.
While the vehicle isn’t destroyed – the blast simply wasn’t strong enough to get through its upgraded armor – the explosion appears to detrack the tank and cause it to veer to one side. There is an obvious explosion, and the tank moves towards the center of the two roads, all the while emitting plumes of white smoke.
Three Russian soldiers are then witnessed escaping the tank and running to the side of the road.
In a moment, the tank erupts into flames, meaning that the mine caused significant damage to some components in the vehicle. The hull becomes engulfed in flames, meaning the vehicle is almost certainly irreparably damaged.
The Ukrainian military initially shared the video in the summer and then reposted it to Twitter by several war-tracking accounts, including Ukraine Weapons Tracker.
Graphics embedded on the video note that the mine was “installed remotely,” though Ukraine Weapons Tracker notes that the mine may have even been deployed by the Russians themselves.
“On the left bank of the Dnipro River, just outside Oleshky, #Kherson Oblast, a Russian BMD-2 airborne IFV was destroyed after running into AT mines- likely remotely deployed by Ukrainian forces, or even placed by Russian forces,” the account writes.
#Ukraine: On the left bank of the Dnipro River, just outside Oleshky, #Kherson Oblast, a Russian BMD-2 airborne IFV was destroyed after running into AT mines- likely remotely deployed by Ukrainian forces, or even placed by Russian forces. pic.twitter.com/JIpOrNzTWm
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) June 27, 2023
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
