Donetsk, Aug 26 — DAN. A civilian has been injured today in Donetsk after triggering a PMF-1 “petal” mine, the DPR Territorial Defence HQ said.
“A civilian was injured in a PMF-1 mine blast in the Kvartsitnyi lane of the Kuibyshevskiy district of Donetsk,” the statement reads.
The DPR Prosecutor General’s Office is investigation incidents of injuries caused by the butterfly mines scattered by the Ukrainian armed forces.
The Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices as amended on 3 May 1996 (Amended Protocol II) to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons bans the use of remotely-delivered mines unless, to the extent feasible, they are equipped with an effective self-destruction or self-neutralization mechanism, which PMF-1 mines do not have.
PFM-1 is a scatterable anti-personnel land mine of Soviet and Russian production. It is also known as a Green Parrot or Butterfly Mine. As a mine made of plastic, it is primarily aimed at the civilian population, it is intended not to kill but to maim.
Some modifications are equipped with a self-destruction mechanism initiated after 1-40 hours from the moment of planting. The timing depends on the air temperature.
If an adult triggers such a mine, he will most probably be maimed. Children and animals are unlike to survive the encounter with a PFM-1. *ot