"Deadly fruits" on trees in battlefields near Kiev

Photographs of russian artillery shells and missiles that hit trees show the intensity of fighting in Ukraine.
British demining expert Chris Garrett smiles awkwardly when asked how he pulled out the artillery shell pictured below.

The professional says that he put on a bulletproof vest and helmet and sawed the base of the tree with a chainsaw and then: "I just jumped into [an abandoned trench] and let the tree fall."
Fortunately, he says, the projectile was damaged and did not explode when the tree fell to the ground. He jokes that this technique probably does not meet "international demining standards", but "the work was done and we all went home."

The image of that artillery shell stuck in a tree is one of several that the native of the Man Island posted on his Instagram. There are photos of ammunition sticking out of the trees and a few weeks after the russian invaders left their positions around Kyiv.

He is not sure if this applies to the damaged Grad missile in the photo above, but in most cases, the nature of the holes indicates that the shells were not the result of a deliberate launch.
Garrett provides his work on the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) in Ukraine through donations.

Regarding the photo, which shows a projectile stuck in a tree, an EOD expert said: "If it was a direct hit, the projectile would just go through the tree, breaking it in half."

In fact, the deadly "fruits" that the volunteer recorded in the forests around Kyiv are the result of secondary explosions of mostly Russian munitions equipment.
"It happened so, that the trucks were set fire or were directly hit by [Ukrainian artillery]," Garrett said. In the process, the so-called SD detonation began, when the shock wave of one projectile exploding from heat or impact is strong enough to "explode the projectile next to it, and so on." In this case, the shells fly in all directions.
In addition to missiles and artillery shells, Garrett also shot dozens of tiny metal darts called flechettes. They were stuck in the trees at an abandoned russian position. These nail-sized metal arrows are used in some tank shells to kill and maim enemy manpower.
After releasing a flechette projectile, it opens and releases hundreds of darts, known for their terrible buzzing in flight. That is why anti-personnel shells were called "hive shells".

One case earlier this month showed the danger of the work done by Garrett and the Ukrainian EOD teams. Garrett said that while working in the woods near Kyiv, they heard "an explosion in the woods and a scream." The team tried to find out what happened, but could not find the place of the explosion.
As the battlefields around Kyiv are still littered with unexploded ordnance, Garrett says, "It's too dangerous right now to just wander in search."

Source: Radio_Svoboda
www.radiosvoboda.org/a/foto-ukrayina-viyna/31871902.html