Recently, a video was shared on social media. The authors claimed it showed Ukrainian military sappers using the ZB-WLWD demining system of Polish origin. Since it has proven to be fake, we won't be sharing it here.
Although the idea itself of getting some of those mine clearance systems from Poland could be useful: Ukrainian soldiers have similar equipment and know how to operate such deminers but need more of them to get through russian heavily mined defense lines.
Read more: The Armed Forces Of Ukraine Spectacularly Destroyed Full russian UR-77 Meteorit System
The other day Defense Express noted, how a single photo can show the density of minefields planted by the russian invasion forces in Ukraine, up to the average of five mines per square meter in certain areas of the frontline.
The Washington Post also wrote in July this year that Ukraine received only 15% of the required number of demining equipment before the start of its counteroffensive. First of all, Ukraine needs military equipment that can quickly clear the path for vehicles and troops to pass through dangerous areas while not getting caught by artillery fire.
In these conditions, Polish ZB-WLWD would be indeed a good reinforcement. The system uses the same method as the UR-77 that Ukrainians drew out from Soviet-era arsenals or the M58 MICLIC provided by the United States: a solid-fuel rocket propels the end of an explosive charge across the minefield, then it's triggered, destroying all nearby traps and thus making a breach.
For the ZB-WLWD that carries a 550 kg charge, this breach would be 100 meters long and 5 meters wide (~330x16 feet). The visual distinction of this system from analogs is its simplistic design – practically a 4x4 trailer-mounted container for the line charge and the SR-M-LWD rocket to send it forward.
However, even if Poland decided to provide these vehicles to Ukraine, the number they could give surely would be modest. Even the Polish Army has only a few of them for own needs. Defence24 in one of this year's articles mentioned that the Polish military would get 49 additional spare SR-M-LWD rockets for the ZB-WLWD systems in 2023-2026.
Read more: How Ukrainians Deal with russian "Wagner’s Line" of Defense with Concrete "Teeth"
