Russia’s Rare Zemledeliye Can Mine a Battlefield From 9 Miles Away—Ukraine Just Destroyed One, Video

Ukrainian forces have destroyed a rare Russian Zemledeliye remote minelaying system on the front, the Unmanned Systems Battalion of the 68th Separate Airmobile Brigade reported on August 19, releasing footage of the strike.

“The Zemledeliye remote engineering minelaying system has officially been moved into the ‘scrap metal’ category. The occupiers used this system to rapidly mine areas, creating enormous problems for our forces. One precise hit—and the enemy’s expensive equipment burns brightly. Now this scrap metal definitely won’t be laying any more mines,” the brigade said.

The Zemledeliye is a Russian engineering system designed to rapidly create minefields from a distance instead of requiring troops to place mines manually.

The system fires 122mm solid-fuel rockets carrying mines that can be scattered across target areas from roughly 5 to 15 kilometers, or about 3 to 9 miles away. It can create complex minefield patterns and even leave designated safe corridors for friendly forces to move through.

The mines carried by its rockets can be programmed to self-destruct or automatically deactivate after a set period, limiting the creation of permanent minefields.

Zemledeliye is also equipped with satellite navigation, an onboard computer, and a weather station. Together, those systems allow the launcher to correct rocket trajectories, place mines more precisely, and automatically map the areas it has mined.

That combination makes the system more than a conventional rocket launcher: it allows Russian engineering units to rapidly reshape sections of the battlefield from several miles away, blocking routes, restricting movement, and creating mine barriers without exposing personnel to direct frontline deployment.

Open-source analysts have previously assessed that only a relatively small number of Zemledeliye systems are believed to be in Russian service, making each confirmed destruction particularly notable for Russia’s engineering and remote-mining capabilities.

Earlier, Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian BM-27 Uragan multiple-launch rocket system in the Nikopol area after locating the launcher concealed among trees.

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