Over 500,000 anti-tank mines have been laid in the Northern Operational Zone along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, Lieutenant General Serhii Naiev, commander of the “North” operational and strategic grouping of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, said in an interview with Ukrinform.
Since June 2022, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have installed anti-tank mines in the main directions of the possible offensive from the territory of Belarus and Russia, according to Lieutenant General Serhii Naiev.
“We installed over 500,000 mines, in particular, anti-tank minefields, anti-tank mine groups, sets of anti-personnel explosive devices, landmines, mined rubble, etc. The density of minefields in our area of responsibility has increased 16 times,” Serhii Naiev said.
In addition, non-explosive barriers and transport infrastructure facilities (bridges, roads, etc.) have been installed along the northern border of Ukraine to stop the possible advance of troops from the territory of Belarus or Russia, Serhii Naiev said. The local authorities also work on fortifying the positions in their towns and villages.
“Together, we are creating conditions to make the state border of Ukraine completely impassable for enemy forces. We are building military engineering and fortifications and installing additional surveillance cameras. Work in this direction continues around the clock,” Serhii Naiev said.
Additional fortification equipment was installed to protect critical civilian infrastructure from Russian or Belarusian attacks. The number of mobile air defense groups has also increased in the Northern Operational Zone, according to Serhii Naiev.
In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine from multiple directions, including from the territory of Belarus. Russian forces crossed the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, occupied the northern part of Kyiv and Chernihiv Oblast, and advanced toward the Ukrainian capital. After more than a month of heavy fighting, Ukraine’s Armed Forces won the battle of Kyiv and made Russian invaders retreat to the territory of Belarus. By 2 April 2022, all northern regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy Oblasts, were liberated.
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