A pair of Russian airborne troops on a recon mission have used captured Ukrainian anti-tank mines to seal a breach of the national border in Kursk Region, according to a video published by the Defense Ministry in Moscow on Tuesday.
Kiev launched an incursion into the region in August, deploying some of its best-equipped units. The force was contained by Russian troops and is currently being beaten back, according to Moscow.
The mining job is part of a larger effort to damage Ukrainian supply lines and encircle Kiev’s troops. The drone footage released by the military showed a line of razor wire and anti-tank concrete pyramids, which had apparently been disrupted by a mine-breaching vehicle.
Two soldiers engaged Ukrainian guards stationed near the breach and found a package of anti-tank mines, the statement said. In the video they are seen placing mines across the gap. The action constituted the “restoration of the border” in that particular location, the ministry maintained.
The operation reportedly took place near Novy Put, a hamlet located 4km from the border. The troops are part of an Airborne Forces unit from Tula, the statement said, presumably referring to the 106th Guards Airborne Division.
The Ukrainian incursion has come with a great cost to Kiev in terms of manpower and weapons, according to Moscow. The latest update from the Russian Ministry of Defence estimated the losses at 29,600 casualties, 184 tanks, 106 infantry fighting vehicles, more than 1,000 armored vehicles and scores of other pieces of heavy weaponry, including 26 military engineering vehicles.
Ukrainian officials have claimed that the operation has slowed Russian advances in the east of the frontline. However, Russian troops gained more ground in October than in any month this year, according to media estimates.