Videos Show Russian Boobytraps Left in Trees, Toys, Trenches

Ukraine's creeping counteroffensive is being plagued by vast minefields and routine use of boobytraps by retreating Russian soldiers, forcing Kyiv's troops to proceed with caution and slower than hoped by Ukrainian and foreign officials.

Recent weeks have seen a glut of battlefield videos exhibiting Ukraine's mine and boobytrap problem, with Russian forces employing all methods available to slow Kyiv's advance and inflict additional casualties on counterattacking units.

Russian forces have spent months preparing their lines for the expected Ukrainian advance, constructing networks of trenches, hardpoints, and minefields littered with anti-personnel and anti-vehicle munitions. Even some of Ukraine's new Western armor has fallen victim to the now vast minefields of southern and eastern Ukraine.

"Obviously the Russians have had time to dig in, to fortify, to put landmines all over the Ukrainian countryside," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told journalists at a briefing on Monday when discussing the ongoing counteroffensive.

The use of boobytraps is nothing new. In every area vacated by Russian forces since February 2022, liberating Ukrainian troops discovered hidden munitions rigged to explode upon discovery.

Washing machines, cars, children's toys, and dead Russian soldiers have been discovered attached to live grenades or other explosives, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Boobytraps have been left in mass graves, according to Kyiv Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. There has even been an unconfirmed report of a live hedgehog found attached to a Russian butterfly mine.

"It is a heritage of the Afghan and Chechen wars, especially of the Chechen wars," Pavel Luzin, a Russian political analyst and visiting scholar at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts, told Newsweek. It shows, Luzin said, "the growing elements of irregular or asymmetric warfare" in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Recent frontline videos show Ukrainian troops capturing recently cleared Russian trenches littered with explosives. "It cannot be fast because everywhere are traps," wrote Ukrainian soldier Roman Trokhymets on Twitter.

"We must be very careful because [there are] many surprises here," Trokhymets said in the footage, showing an anti-personnel mine laying in an earthen foxhole and several partially buried hand grenades taped to branches nearby.

Such boobytraps are an element of how Russian forces are trying to bleed the attacking Ukrainians, according to Erik Kramer—a U.S. special forces veteran now training Ukrainian soldiers through his Ukraine Defense Support Group.

"Besides artillery, I would say minefields and boobytraps are the biggest killer," Kramer told Newsweek. "The Russians booby trap everything and are throwing anti-personnel mines everywhere. Even in the trees."

Kramer recalled being shown one video by a soldier fighting on the southern Zaporizhzhia front who documented "five or six anti-personnel mines, almost touching each other in some cases, and the others spaced haphazardly maybe a meter away."

"They also will put boobytraps on mines to get engineers," Kramer added. "The Russians are doing what they typically do: use large numbers of mines, or artillery, or soldiers."

Ukrainian military and political leaders have been clear that they will not rush the ongoing counteroffensive to satisfy foreign demands for progress.

Last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the BBC that the counteroffensive is progressing "slower than desired." But added: Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It's not."

"What's at stake is people's lives. Whatever some might want, including attempts to pressure us, with all due respect, we will advance on the battlefield the way we deem best."

Luzin said the extensive mining and boobytrapping of frontline areas poses a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. "I think Ukrainians are careful enough," he said.

"And for them, the main goal is not forcing the Russian army to retreat but to eliminate their core—bottom level commanders together with mid-level officers, artillery, and so on."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.