Direct proof of use
Human Rights Watch documented PTM-1/PTM-1G remotely delivered anti-vehicle mines in Ukraine after Russia's February 24, 2022 full-scale invasion. Its June 2022 background briefing identified the PTM-1/PTM-1G as a plastic-cased anti-vehicle mine delivered from helicopters, 122 mm Grad rockets, and, as seen in Ukraine, 9M27K2 Uragan 220 mm rockets.
The same briefing recorded dated PTM-1/PTM-1G clearance and discovery reports in Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. It said the New York Times first documented use and clearance in eastern Kharkiv city on April 8, 2022; Kharkiv emergency services cleared additional mines on April 11; the Kharkiv prosecutor's office posted detailed photographs on April 12; and Ukrainian security, emergency, and police bodies later documented PTM-1/PTM-1G mines in Donetsk region.
Sources: HRW Background Briefing on Landmine Use in Ukraine
Timeline
The documented public timeline begins in April 2022 in Kharkiv city, where PTM-1/PTM-1G mines were reportedly used and then cleared. HRW reported a sequence of follow-on sightings and clearance work in Kharkiv region through late April, followed by Donetsk region documentation from April 30 through May 25.
HRW also noted that Russia-backed fighters in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic displayed PTM-1G mine remnants and a 9M27K2 Uragan rocket remnant on April 27, 2022. That incident is treated here as remnant-display evidence in the same conflict rather than as a separate confirmed firing event.
Sources: HRW Background Briefing on Landmine Use in Ukraine
Battlefield role
In the Ukraine record, the PTM-1 appears as a remotely scattered anti-vehicle mine used for area denial, anti-vehicle obstruction, and movement interdiction. HRW's 2023 landmine-use update listed PTM-1/PTM-1G among anti-vehicle mines used since February 24, 2022, described it as a USSR/Russia blast mine with pressure initiation and self-destruct, and noted that both Russia and Ukraine stockpile the type.
The direct PTM-1/PTM-1G incidents cited here are tied to mined urban and regional areas rather than to a confirmed vehicle strike. HRW's 2022 briefing described several mines self-destructing at random intervals before clearance in Kharkiv, increasing risk to nearby civilians and clearance personnel, and its 2023 update framed the wider anti-vehicle mine pattern as part of a large and complex contamination problem in Ukraine.
Sources: HRW Background Briefing on Landmine Use in Ukraine, HRW Landmine Use in Ukraine
