Direct proof of use
Human Rights Watch documented the PTM-4M in Ukraine after Kharkiv-region police photographed a delivery canister marked "PTM-4M" at Elitne on May 30, 2022. The same briefing described the PTM-4 as a remotely delivered magnetic-influence anti-vehicle mine with a shaped charge and stated that more modern remotely delivered mines with 2021 production markings had been used by Russian forces.
Open Source Munitions Portal records add later image-based documentation from Ukraine. OSMP 2270 lists an August 11, 2023 record from Ukraine with the tentative model PTM-4M, and OSMP 2269 lists an October 7, 2023 record from Ukraine with the same tentative model and anti-vehicle mine domain.
Sources: HRW Landmine Use in Ukraine, OSMP 2270, OSMP 2269
Timeline
The first dated PTM-4M evidence in this record is the May 30, 2022 Elitne canister photograph reported by Human Rights Watch. The canister evidence matters because it separates delivery hardware from possession: the source documents a PTM-4M-marked disperser in a battle-damage investigation during the full-scale invasion, not merely a catalog listing or prewar technical description.
In 2023, OSMP cataloged two additional PTM-4M image records from Ukraine. Those entries do not identify a firing unit, but they keep the munition tied to the ongoing conflict record after the initial Kharkiv Oblast canister evidence.
Sources: HRW Landmine Use in Ukraine, OSMP 2270, OSMP 2269
Operational role
In this conflict, the PTM-4M appears as a remote anti-vehicle mine used for area denial and anti-armor obstruction rather than as a hand-emplaced mine. Human Rights Watch described all manner of landmine delivery methods in Ukraine, including remotely delivered mines, and identified PTM-4M as a shaped-charge, magnetic-influence anti-vehicle mine.
The Monitor's Ukraine mine-ban profile lists the PTM-4M among anti-vehicle mines used in Ukraine since February 2022 and describes it as a Russian modern metal-cased mine scattered from tube, truck, helicopter, or rocket-mounted dispensers. Fenix Insight METIS separately describes the PTM-4M as a Russian scatterable anti-tank shaped-charge mine thought to be delivered by an ISDM-related artillery rocket and Zemledeliye remote-mining launcher.
Sources: HRW Landmine Use in Ukraine, Ukraine Mine Ban Policy, Fenix METIS PTM-4M
