The former US Special Forces engineer says the overwhelming numbers of land mines is wildly different from anything he saw in Afghanistan.
"There are millions and millions of mines in Ukraine," many put down by the Ukrainians, but significantly more by the Russians.
The Russians have "the capability to lay millions and millions of land mines, and they do," he said, stressing that "the biggest shaping factor of this war is land mines."
"Any movement, offense, or counteroffense, assaults, or anything like that, the commander has to take into account land mines," Hendrickson said.
"The casualties that the Ukrainians are suffering on this offensive," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff US Army Gen. Mark Milley said this week, "they're from minefields — minefields that are covered with direct fire from anti-tank hunter-killer teams, that sort of thing."
Persons:
Ryan Hendrickson, Hendrickson, Ercin, Getty Images Hendrickson, Valery Zaluzhny, Mark Milley
Organizations:
US Special Forces, Ukrainian YouTube, Service, US Army Special Forces, Green Berets, Ukrainian Toronto Television, 35th Marine Brigade, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Rights, Toronto Television, Group, Getty Images, Washington Post, Joint Chiefs, Staff US
Locations:
Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ukrainian, Wall, Silicon, Russia, Donetsk, Laos, Cambodia