Darting into a dirt road in broad daylight, Russian soldiers around the Russian-occupied village of Hrodivka in eastern Ukraine quickly laid anti-tank mines onto the ground—and then scurried away.
In this fashion, soldiers from the Russian center grouping of forces knocked out a rare Ukrainian vehicle—an up-gunned BMP-1TS tracked fighting vehicle. The soldiers captured their ambush on video; Russian propaganda channels posted the video this week.
There are a lot of ways to lay mines: by hand before a battle, via automated systems on ground vehicles, from the air by helicopter or drone or even with artillery shells that pop open near the ground.
Manhandling mines into position moments before enemy vehicles roll past might be the riskiest method. The sappers are exposed to snipers, drones, artillery—and to the gunners on the very vehicles they’re targeting.
But an instant, hand-laid minefield has a clear benefit. It minimizes the chances of the enemy spotting and clearing the mines. The Russian soldiers in the recent ambush returned to the road to find two damaged and abandoned Ukrainian vehicles: the rare BMP and also a BTR wheeled fighting vehicle.
The BMP-1TS is a uniquely Ukrainian version of the 15-ton, 11-person BMP-1. Soviet industry produced tens of thousands of first-generation BMPs starting in the mid-1960s. Today thousands of the vehicles are in storage in Russia and Ukraine.
The biggest problem with the basic BMP-1, besides the type’s inadequate protection, always has been its low-pressure 73-millimeter gun. The gun has the benefit of producing minimal recoil, but it also loses accuracy past a few hundred yards.
So when the Russians or Ukrainians upgrade old BMP-1 hulls after potentially decades in storage, they usually start by popping out the turrets and guns and replacing them with new combat modules, often sporting modern optics and 23-millimeter or 30-millimeter autocannons: combinations of fire-controls and weapons that should allow a BMP-1 crew to engage targets a thousand yards away.
One such up-gunned BMP-1 is the TS model that Ukrainian industry produced in small numbers starting two years ago. A BMP-1TS boasts a Spys-Synthesis combat module in the place of the old turret with its 73-millimeter gun.
The Spys-Synthesis module packs thermal optics, a stabilizer for its ZTM-1 30-millimeter autocannon plus a KBA-117 automatic grenade launcher and a launcher for a Stugna anti-tank missile.
The first dozen or so BMP-1TSs reportedly belonged to the Ukrainian army’s 5th Assault Brigade, which lost at least three in combat. At last sighting, the 5th Assault Brigade wasn’t anywhere near Hrodivka, so it’s possible the brigade has transferred its surviving BMP-1TSs to another unit—or Ukrainian industry produced more copies.
Whatever the case, there’s one fewer BMP-1TS in the Ukrainian inventory today than there was a week ago, owing to those brave—so might say crazy—mine-handling Russians.
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