Photo credit: Russian Ministry of Defense
More than six and a half thousand hectares of Syrian territory have been cleared by Russian sappers, the Zvezda TV channel reports. This data was announced by Russia’s defense minister Sergey Shoigu during the meeting of the ministry’s board. It was dedicated to the summary of the work of the International Mine Action Center of the Armed Forces over the past five years.
Over the years, three cities have been cleared of mines and shells: Palmyra, Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor. Sappers have made safe more than seventeen thousand different buildings and structures. Sappers also examined and cleared almost one and a half kilometers of roads and more than twelve kilometers of railway tracks.
The Minister of Defense recalled that the sappers had to work during the ongoing hostilities. Mine clearance was carried out in urban areas, it was possible to do it in the shortest possible time. Shoigu noted that urban infrastructure, historical and cultural sites were not affected.
During five years, the Russian military destroyed more than one hundred thousand mines and other ammunition. Of these, about a third were artillery explosives.
Russkiy Mir
