Donetsk, Aug 1 — DAN. A civilian woman has been killed today in the Kuibyshevskiy district of Donetsk, the DPR Territorial Defence HQ said.
An elderly man sustained an injury in the Petrovskiy district as he triggered a butterfly mine, remotely planted by Ukrainian armed formations.
“Today, at 83 Veresayeva street, a man born in 1947 stepped on a PMF-1 ‘petal’ mine, the blast resulted in a traumatic amputation of his right foot,” the report reads.
Ukrainian army violates international law by scattering butterfly mines, the Chairman of the DPR People’s Council Vladimir Bidyovka said earlier on Sunday.
The Ministry of Emergencies called on the residents of Donetsk and Makeyevka to stay away from streets except for essential needs, as more and more butterfly mines are discovered. Ukrainian armed formations scatter them using Uragan MLRS.
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