Ukraine's strategy shift: US anti-personnel mines reshape battlefield
Landmines remain one of the most effective methods for Ukraine to slow down or redirect enemy attacks. Recently, the Americans have decided to supply Ukraine with anti-personnel mines.
Until now, Ukraine has primarily utilised anti-tank mines but lacked anti-personnel mines. This has been particularly challenging on the front lines, where Russian forces have a numerical advantage and utilise infantry for attacks. These attacks, often called "human wave attacks," aim to provoke Ukrainian defences, onto which guided bombs are subsequently dropped.
In such circumstances, alongside cluster munitions with extensive area impact, anti-personnel mines would be significantly beneficial. Unfortunately, looking back, Ukraine's decision to sign the Ottawa Treaty on 24 February 1999, and ratify it on 27 December 2005, might have been a strategic oversight.
The treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel mines and mandates the destruction of existing stocks. While the treaty's intent is well-meaning, the harsh realities indicate that without these restrictions, Ukraine might have had enhanced defensive capabilities against Russian forces.
It's worth noting that nations such as Russia, China, and the USA, which possess large stockpiles of simple anti-personnel mines from the Cold War era, have not ratified the Ottawa Treaty. Now, the Americans plan to transfer some of their stockpiles to Ukraine, which will considerably bolster its defence, similar to the transfer of cluster munitions banned in many countries.
Simple anti-personnel mines
The Ottawa Treaty banned the use of most types of anti-personnel mines. This includes basic pressure-triggered mines, which have been familiar since World Wars I and II, and motion sensor mines. This category also covers scatterable mines, which are used in artillery or rocket projectiles. The exception is mines that can be remotely detonated, such as those triggered by radio signals.
The Americans last broadly employed anti-personnel mines in 1991 during the Gulf War, excluding their limited use in Afghanistan in 2002. In 2022, Stan Brown, serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, acknowledged in a discussion that the USA possesses exactly 3 million anti-personnel mines. These are intended solely for use on the Korean Peninsula.
Among the most basic anti-personnel mines are the M14 and M16, designed in the 1950s. The M14 is a cylindrical, hard-to-detect plastic mine with only one metal component: a pin for detonating approximately 30 grams of explosive material. Its pressure trigger activates with just 11 to 14 kg (25 to 30 lbs).
The M16 is essentially a replica of the German WWII S-mine, capable of affecting an entire squad, not just the individual who steps on it. The M16 weighs 3.5 kg (8 lbs) and is encased in metal containing 450 grams (16 oz) of explosive material. It is equipped with a pressure trigger sensitive to 3.5 to 9 kg (8 to 20 lbs) or a tripwire that can be attached to, for instance, a nearby tree. Upon activation, the mine launches upwards and detonates above the ground, scattering shrapnel over a 30-metre (98-foot) radius.
These mines require manual placement, but it is expected that Ukrainians will use drones or remotely controlled vehicles, which they are already implementing with TM62 anti-tank mines.
Scatterable mines — can be deployed by artillery
Scatterable mines such as the Area-Denial Artillery Munition (ADAM) will be of greater utility to Ukrainians. These are deployed, among other means, in specialised versions of 155 mm artillery shells, each containing 36 wedge-shaped mines. The shell is designed to explode mid-air after a set time, releasing the mines' payload.
Upon impact, the mines release three or four 6-metre (20-foot) wires that embed onto any surface. They then act as a trigger, and pulling them with a force of 1 to 1.4 kg (2 to 3 lbs) is sufficient to detonate the armed mine. Each mine contains around 20 grams (0.7 oz) of explosive material and is set to rise to a height of 0.6 to 2.4 metres (2 to 8 feet) before exploding, affecting an area of 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 feet). The mines have a self-destruct mechanism that triggers after a maximum of 48 hours from deployment.
The effective range of these shells in artillery systems with a barrel length of 39 calibres is noted to be 19 kilometres (12 miles), so for newer systems with a 52-calibre gun, the range of ADAM shells may extend a few kilometres further.
Notably for Ukrainians, an ample supply of anti-personnel mines could prove more beneficial than a few dozen MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles, as the capacity to mine approaches to trenches near Pokrovsk or in the Kursk region could drastically diminish the efficiency of Russian "human wave attacks."
