A 7-year-old boy found a "Petal" mine in Kharkiv region: the child was hospitalised

A 7-year-old boy found a "Petal" mine in Kharkiv region: the child was hospitalised

A child was injured by an explosive device near Kharkiv in the summer cottage village of Rodychi. Preliminarily, it was a Pelyustka anti-personnel landmine".

The incident took place on Tuesday evening, 18 June, at around 20:30. This was reported by the head of the Kharkiv Regional State (Military) Administration, Oleh Syniehubov, on his Telegram channel.

The child was taken to hospital. "During a walk, a 7-year-old boy picked up an explosive device, which detonated and caused bodily harm," the official said.

The PFM-1 "Petal" is small and does not look like a conventional munition, but rather like a spare part or a leaf that has fallen from a tree. It explodes when pressed. This mine does not have a self-deactivating mechanism and can lie for years until it is stepped on or driven over.

We would like to add that over the past day (18 June), Ukrainian explosive ordnance disposal experts cleared 9.73 hectares of territory in Kharkiv region and destroyed 454 explosive devices.