[Yang Nakgyu's Defence Club] "Urgent Mine Removal"... Sending Multipurpose Excavators to Ukraine

Non-lethal Weapon Support Items for Ukraine
Practical Review to be Completed by the End of This Month
Additional Multipurpose Excavators for Mine Removal

Our government will add a multipurpose excavator for mine removal to the list of non-lethal weapons to be sent to Ukraine, which is at war with Russia.

According to the military on the 22nd, the government plans to complete the practical review of non-lethal weapons to be supported to Ukraine by the end of this month. A senior military official said, “Among the non-lethal weapons possessed by the military, the items to be supported to Ukraine will be finalized within this month,” adding, “The support items will not be transported all at once but will be delivered to Ukraine in several batches.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Ukrainian President Zelensky reportedly requested support for mine removal equipment, emergency evacuation vehicles, mobile X-ray devices, and air defense radars at last month’s Group of Seven (G7) summit. Since the military decided to support only non-lethal weapons, multipurpose excavators were included in the final support list.

The multipurpose excavator was also used in 2018 when the North and South withdrew equipment from guard posts (GPs) under the September 19 Military Agreement. The armored excavator can block mine fragments, making it efficient not only for mine removal but also for restoration work. At that time, the military purchased equipment such as the roller-type Rhino, Mine Breaker, and MK-4 from abroad to remove mines in the inter-Korean control zone, but these devices are not suitable for Korea’s mountainous terrain, so it is uncertain whether they will be included in the support items. Since foreign-made equipment was purchased a long time ago, there may be problems with parts supply even if provided to Ukraine.

The military believes that supporting multipurpose excavators to Ukraine will be militarily efficient. President Zelensky also said in an interview with BBC on the 21st (local time), “The Russian army has laid mines over 200,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory (about 220,000 square kilometers, the size of the Korean Peninsula), making it difficult to advance.”

In particular, the excavators could be deployed for mine removal work after the recent collapse of the Kakhovka Dam in southern Ukraine due to flooding. The area around the Kakhovka Dam has been the frontline of the war for over a year, and tens of thousands of mines laid by Ukraine and Russia along the Dnipro River were swept away by the strong water flow caused by the dam’s destruction. The mines appear to have drifted into villages and farmland, making it difficult to start damage restoration work prematurely.

Last year, our government provided non-lethal weapons worth $100 million (about 130 billion won) to Ukraine. Humanitarian non-lethal weapons such as medicines, medical equipment, computers, ambulances, pickup trucks, protective gear, generators, and excavators were supported. The Ministry of National Defense provided support in three rounds last year.