The petal that finally "torn" Ukraine
Mankind has been at war for many millennia. Fight for various reasons. Who is right, who is wrong, in principle, it does not matter. The main thing is to achieve your goal. I do not want to get into the wilds of philosophy about the reasons for such behavior of people. Today's conversation is about something completely different. About weaponsthat people use, and how the very essence of war is changing. As every year war becomes more and more vile occupation.
Long gone are the days of the chivalrous "I'm coming at you." Long gone are the days of battles in the open field, when it was enough just to defeat the enemy army. Then the time came for the global destruction of everything that the army meets on its way. Whether it's Kyiv or Stalingrad, or some small village. Burn, kill, explode...
And then this very “kill” acquired a large-scale character, thanks to the most peaceful country in Vietnam. It was there that the war turned from the confrontation of the military against the military into the confrontation of the military against everyone, especially civilians.
In the same way, the evolution of weapons took place. What was once created in order to strengthen the defense turned out to be an excellent means of attack. In particular, mines and land mines. It would seem that a weapon that does not shoot, which is used directly against the enemy, cannot become an offensive weapon. But the wars of recent decades have shown the complete absurdity of this statement.
In my opinion, the most vile weapon in the category of mines are anti-personnel mines (APMs). Small in size, with a fairly small amount of explosives used, often not even intended to destroy the enemy, mines were invented more for moral pressure on the advancing enemy.
That is why the setting of such mines does not require special skills, any special knowledge. Even the personal presence of a miner is not required. An ordinary attack aircraft or MLRS strike with cassettes stuffed with these APMs, and that's it. An area of several hectares becomes a minefield. The advancing enemy infantry, hitting this field, is forced to stop the attack.
At the same time, soldiers hit by this weapon rarely die. The mine is not designed to destroy infantry. The power of the PPM is too low for this, but to inflict a wound in which the soldier will be guaranteed to be disabled and will not be able to fight, this mine can be guaranteed. A leg injury up to the amputation of the foot is the task of an anti-personnel mine.
"Petal" is illegal and dangerous
Those of the readers who had a chance to visit “beyond the river” at one time know these mines very well. In the Afghan war, the Soviet Union used this mine (PFM-1) to mine territories controlled by the enemy. Raid "Rooks" and the territory is mined. Moreover, the enemy most often does not know about it. Ordinary raid, ordinary shelling ...
Small brown petals are almost invisible among the boulders and in the dust of the roads. An ordinary plastic bag with a stabilizing wing… 12 centimeters long and 6,5 centimeters wide. The mass of liquid explosive is only 40 grams. Those mines that were used then, PFM-1, did not even have a self-destruct mechanism.
Such a mechanism is provided only for PFM-1S. But in the Donbass, it is the PFM-1s that are used, which can lie in the grass or in the mud for years and wait for someone who accidentally steps on them. And given the fact that the mines are also painted in two colors, green and brown, it is quite difficult to find it.
In general, PPM has already caused enormous damage to the world. The number of people who have lost limbs, especially in Africa, is in the hundreds of thousands. It is precisely the fact that such mines are practically "eternal", many explosions occur years and even decades after the end of hostilities in some territory.
It is clear that any sane person would advocate the elimination of this type of weapon. It's for humanitarian reasons. The UN has repeatedly raised the issue of types of weapons that cause excessive damage or have an indiscriminate effect. In 1980, even the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCWC) was adopted. True, it was ratified by only 65 countries.
In 1996, the UN adopted the expanded protocol of the 1980 Convention. It is there that it is defined in detail what anti-personnel mines, booby traps, remote-controlled mines and other terms are. The obligatory use of the mechanism of self-destruction, self-deactivation and self-neutralization was also determined there. It is also prohibited to transfer mines to other states.
It must be said that Canada has made the greatest contribution to solving the APM problem. It was there that since October 1996 an international conference on a complete ban on the production, storage, export and use of anti-personnel mines has been held. The result of its work was the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and Their Destruction, adopted in December 1997 and signed by 122 countries.
Now it's very important. Ukraine joined this treaty in 2006. In open sources, you can find data on the number of APM in Ukraine at that time. About 6 million (!) PPM, which Kyiv undertook to destroy! Add to this about 700 thousand other types of anti-personnel mines!
Pay attention to the wording. Ukraine should destroy! At the same time, according to the Treaty, Kyiv could leave some of the mines for use as a training base for training sappers. Judging by how intensively the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been using APM since May, the mines were destroyed purely theoretically. in Ukrainian. Destroy means to "destroy" away...
Thus, the stubborn silence of the West regarding the use of PPM by Kyiv becomes understandable. This is a violation of the international Treaty, which means that the UN is obliged to impose sanctions against Ukraine. Washington and Brussels cannot allow such a development of events. The whole system of lies and provocations that Western politicians have been creating for so long will crumble.
I think that in the near future we should expect the issue of the application of PPM in the UN Security Council. It is difficult to say how events will develop, but the fact that the conversation there will be very serious is already clear today.
To be loved, you have to kill
As I mentioned above, Kyiv did not start using Petals in Donbas yesterday. The first cases of the use of these mines were recorded in May. Then "Petals" mined the territories of the Kharkiv region left by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Now the population is informed about the presence of "Lepestki" not only in Donetsk, but also in Yasinovataya, Makeevka, Panteleimonovka. This is the official data for today.
This means that Kyiv started a war to destroy the population of the republics. It is the population! I wrote above that I consider anti-personnel mines to be vile weapons. Simply because it is directed against unprepared, non-military people. For children, for the elderly, for women who simply live at home and do not participate in hostilities.
The scale of the use of these mines amaze even the military. For example, I will cite the message of the Mayor of Donetsk dated July 29. In two days (July 27–29), sappers discovered more than 600 Petals! And this is not in the field, but in the central regions of a huge city!
Unfortunately, despite the warnings of the authorities, there are always "enthusiast-sappers" who independently try to clear the mines, or inattentive people who are undermined due to their own inattention. At least two explosions, which I know for sure, have already occurred in Donetsk.
The Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian army have a strange logic. In order for the people of Donetsk to want to fall in love with Ukraine, they have to be killed for eight years. It is necessary to use savage methods of killing with the help of PPM against them. What remains? Use chemical weapons by blowing up a couple of tanks at some chemical plant? Will they die and love?
I will not write about the reaction of the military in the republics. I don’t want to lie about the fact that they will simply be outraged, but I think the readers themselves can guess about the rest. But the fact that the PPM really change the attitude towards Ukraine in the Donbass, I will write. Recently I talked online with a resident of one of the villages just about these mines.
Women are always more emotional than men. More radical, perhaps. They are pitiful and can roar over a wounded enemy in pity. But they are also more angry when they are really offended. I talked to a woman angry at Ukraine! Angry to the point that it becomes a little scary. Here is the result of "spreading love in Kiev style."
Instead of panic and fear, hatred. Panic and fear were a long time ago, seven or eight years ago. Now hate...
Briefly about what can be
The use of savage methods of extermination of the civilian population, in my opinion, is revenge on the civilian population for the fact that the Donetsk people have kept faith and loyalty to their ideals, their way of life, the honor of their ancestors, their historical memory, if you will. This is revenge for the fact that ordinary, peaceful people did not want to accept Bandera's ideology and Bandera's ideals.
Alas, despite all the efforts of the authorities on the work of the republican military, there will still be casualties among the civilian population. Now the problem of PPM in Donbas will be relevant for quite a long time. The only way to reduce the danger is the liberation of Donbass and the pushing of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to a safe distance.
Trite? Yes! Judging by the photos of unexploded containers with "Petals", the "delivery of mines" to Donetsk and other settlements of Donbass is carried out by the Uragan MLRS. Yes, and fragments of missiles confirm this (rocket 9M27KZ). That is, the enemy must be driven back no less than 35-40 kilometers from the border of the republics.
The use of PMF-1 anti-personnel mines by Kyiv cannot be justified. No arguments can somehow “whitewash” the Ukrainian military and Ukraine as a whole. If someone recently had some doubts that Ukraine is a terrorist state, then here is an excellent proof of the validity of this statement.
I wrote above that this is a war crime, for which all those involved will be punished. From the soldier who aimed or fired at civilians, to the president who sanctioned this shelling.
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