Russian forces are using banned anti-personnel mines to cover up their regular retreat in Ukraine, according to a Human Rights Watch report. The use of these mines by Russia shows that they know that they have been defeated in the region and do not plan another attack in Kyiv, according to an expert from the Institute for War Studies. “If you put mines everywhere, that means you do not think you will be back there soon,” Frederick Kagan, a military researcher at the Institute for War Studies, told Insider. . According to Kagan, the Ukrainian troops had already defeated the Russian attack on Kyiv and launched their own counterattack to repel the Russian troops. Kagan said Russia’s announcement that it would withdraw troops from the Ukrainian capital was a “cover-up” to gain political capital as it had to concede defeat in Kyiv. On Monday, Ukrainian explosive ordnance disposal teams located anti-personnel mines in the eastern part of Kharkiv, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Deadly POM-3 mines can injure people up to 50 feet away, according to Human Rights Watch. The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a police recruiting center at Kisak, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens more. Russia – and the United States – have not ratified the 1997 International Mine Ban Treaty. Ukraine signed the treaty in 1999 and became a state in 2005. They have used defensive mines to block roads in Kyiv. The mines are lined up at a roadblock in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Pavlo Bagmut / Future Publishing via Getty Images Kagan told Insider that the photos showed the Russians indiscriminately placing mines instead of digging them and planting them deep. “They are laying mines to delay the Ukrainian attack so that they can withdraw their troops,” Kagan said. “From what I have seen, they are doing it so hastily that I think the demining process will be much less complicated than in areas where deep minefields have been planted.”
