Ukraine appears to be repurposing powerful Russian anti-tank mines and using drones to drop them on Putin's invasion army

• Ukraine appears to be repurposing and using Russian mines against Putin's forces.
• Video footage appears to show Ukraine dropping TM-62 anti-tank mines on Russian positions.

Ukraine appears to be repurposing Russian anti-tank mines and using drones to drop them on Russian forces.

Video footage shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, claims to show a Ukrainian drone dropping a powerful grenade-fused TM-62 anti-tank blast mine on an enemy position.

The TM-62M is a Russian high-explosive, anti-vehicle blast landmine that can be laid mechanically or by hand, according to CAT-UXO, a site that collates information on explosive hazards.

The mine can be used against tanks, self-propelled rockets, artillery stands, and armored trucks, per Atlas Internazionale, a defense equipment supplier.

They contain about eight kilograms, or around 18 pounds of TNT, enough to cause extensive damage to enemy vehicles that trigger them, per the site.

Russia's prolific use of landmines has left Ukraine as the most mined country in the world, with an area the size of Uruguay or Florida now contaminated with mines, shells, and bombs, The Washington Post reported.

"The sheer quantity of ordnance in Ukraine is just unprecedented in the last 30 years. There's nothing like it," Greg Crowther, the director of programs for the Mines Advisory Group, told The Post.

Approximately 30% of Ukraine's territory has been enveloped by fierce fighting, according to a recent report by GLOBSEC, a think tank based in Slovakia.

From the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 to July 2023, the United Nations reported 298 civilian deaths and 632 civilian injuries from military explosives, per The Post.

"Russian minefields are a serious obstacle for our troops, but not insurmountable," former Ukrainian minister of defense Oleksii Reznikov told The Guardian.

"We have skilled sappers and modern equipment, but they are extremely insufficient for the front that stretches hundreds of kilometers in the east and south of Ukraine," he added.