Ukrainian soldiers managed to destroy another interesting piece of russian military equipment – a modified BTR-80 armored personnel carried with a UMZ remote minelaying system installed on top.
The vehicle that was supposed to fire mine clusters through a launcher like ordinary rockets and thus disperse anti-personnel or anti-tank mines, got caught on a landmine itself. Then, Ukrainian soldiers spotted the immobilized vehicle and deployed a drone to bomb it with grenades, according to Ukrainian MP Yurii Mysiahin who shared the video online.
Read more: Zemledeliye Remote Minelaying System of russian Forces Destroyed by One of the Most Effective Smart Weapons Ukraine Has (Video)
In the footage, we can see the vehicle smoking and catching fire, with a subsequent explosion of mines in storage. With that, the equipment is effectively eliminated.
On a note from Defense Express, destroying russian minelaying systems – like this one – is an important part of the Ukrainian counteroffensive effort, since such mine deployment vehicles are increasingly actively used by russian occupation forces to create minefields in the directions of Ukrainian advance.
For example, russians also use Zemledeliye systems that are said to cover an area equal to several soccer fields from a distance of 5 to 15 km away, as in the video below.
Earlier Ukrainians managed to take down one of Zemledeliye systems in the same method, with a drone with droppable grenades in early March this year. But so far, only two mine launchers of this type have been caught out and destroyed, according to the Oryx OSINT community. The second one was hit with a smart munition in late June.
As for the UMZ launchers used on this unusual russian BTR-80, those are quite a universal system that has less impressive specifications and needs to be in close proximity to the area it covers with mines. On the other hand, it can be mounted on a variety of chassis, a simple truck would be sufficient. More details about the UMZ mine layer find out in our dedicated article.
Read more: russians Deploy Soviet UMZ Minelaying Systems, the New Vehicle's Already Been Destroyed by Ukrainians
