Military leadership forbids reporting problems with mines to Ministry of Strategic Industry. 151 brigades are forced to sign reports as if they did not receive them - Butusov
On January 4, 2025, a meeting of the working group of the Ministry of Strategy and the Ministry of Defense with the participation of relevant deputy ministers was held to discuss the video published by Censor.NET about the continued supply of defective mines to the front.
Yuriy Butusov, editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, wrote about this on Facebook.
According to him, the General Staff was represented by the head of the Central Defense Resources Directorate, V. Stetsyuk.
"According to the report, more than 60,000 82-mm caliber mines of the series shown in the video were supplied to the troops, produced by one of the enterprises of the Ministry of Strategic Industry, and no complaints were received from the troops. There are about 800 mines of this series left in the warehouse, and a batch of these mines is going to be fired to test them at a training ground. I was surprised that for some reason the working group did not decide to call mortar operators by phone or go to Donbas and see how our soldiers use these mines. I hope the working group will do this," Butusov writes.
He also raises the question of why there are no complaints about the mines.
"As it turned out, there is some kind of unofficial agreement among the military leadership to prohibit reporting problems with mines to the Ministry of Strategic Industry. The personnel of the 151st Brigade are being forced to sign reports as if they had not received mines of this series at all, and as if they had not recorded the video. I have not yet found out the level of who is specifically demanding that they sign such reports," the journalist adds.
Soldiers replace low-quality explosive charges on their own
Perhaps, as Butusov continues, the reason is that defective mines still have to be used in the absence of a supply of quality ammunition. This series of mines with an M-6 fuze does not detonate. That is why our soldiers began to upgrade the mines themselves. The fighters are replacing low-quality explosive charges, sorting out the gunpowder, and putting 10 grams of plastid under the fuze.
"Thus, most of the mines modified by the mortar operators explode, but there is still a large number of non-explosions, the nature of which is not precisely established, as neither the Ministry of Strategic Industry nor the Ministry of Defense investigate such cases at the front with 120-mm or 82-mm mines," he noted.
According to the mortar operators, the probable reason for the large number of unexploded mines is a violation of the technology of filling explosives into mines.
Also, as noted, compared to mines produced by NATO countries (82 mm caliber is supplied, for example, by Bulgaria), the accuracy of the mines of the Ministry of Strategic Industries is very low.
"But it is impossible to draw correct conclusions because the Ministry of Strategic Industries and the Ministry of Defense have never visited the front to find out why the brigades that use defective mines are using them, all checks are carried out only at training grounds.
I hope that the members of the working group of the Ministry of Strategy and the Ministry of Defense will be able to organize a visit to the front at least once, to the actual 82 mm and 120 mm positions, and talk to infantry mortar operators themselves. I talk to a lot of mortar operators, and censorship does not allow me to convey how critical they are about the massive supply of defective mines," the journalist adds.
"I would like to remind you that the Ministry of Strategic Industry and the Ministry of Defense have never issued official explanations and have not even refuted or commented on media reports. It would be understandable if there were shortages in small batches as a result of a sharp scale-up of production, but the problem is spreading and not being addressed, and this should be corrected.
Those responsible are hiding from explanations in their offices. In 2024, the Ministry of Strategic Industries received UAH 25 billion from taxpayers for the mine production program," Butusov summarizes.
Defective mines supplied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine
As a reminder, on November 6, 2024, it was reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine received a low-quality batch of 120 mm mines manufactured by Ukroboronprom.
On November 20, a video of mines manufactured by Ukroboronprom malfunctioning was released.
The Ministry of Defense reported that it was investigating the situation.
Journalist Yulia Kiriyenko-Merinova also said that after the situation with the low-quality 120-mm mines was publicized, a batch of 82-mm mortar rounds was seized from the frontline, which also turned out to be defective.
On December 6, the Minister of Strategic Industries of Ukraine Herman Smetanin said in the Verkhovna Rada that out of millions of mines produced, the military had recorded only 417 cases of malfunction. Smetanin attributed the problems with the mines to the quality of imported gunpowder.
On December 31, it became known that low-quality mines had hit units in the Vremivka direction, in the area of Velyka Novosilka.
