An overview of the latest standard explosive charges and means of detonation used by the Russian Federation’s troops

Abstract

The article discusses some aspects of the study of engineered muni tions - standard explosive charges and means for their detonation, the relevance of which is due to their widespread use by Russians during hostilities. Nowadays, when conducting forensic examinations in crim inal proceedings related to crimes committed by representatives of the armed forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine since the beginning of the armed aggression, experts often need to identify explosive charges, engineering mines and ammunition, and the means of detonating them. It takes a lot of time to determine their type, model, tactical and technical characteristics, and combat capabilities, and the employees who work with them must have basic knowledge of explo sives to save their lives and health. However, there are no methods that would define clear and effective algorithms for solving such problems. The information in scientific, technical and reference literature is not sys tematized, often contradictory and incomplete. The purpose of the study is to form a regulatory and methodological framework for conducting expert research in the process of investigating events related to the use of engineered munitions by the Russian Federation. In the course of the research, the author used the methods of system analysis, causal analy sis, direct structural analysis, general scientific methods of analysis, syn thesis, abstraction and generalization. The article is based on research conducted by specialists of the Department of Explosive Research and Research of Missile and Artillery Weapons of the Military Research Lab oratory of Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. The article provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the latest samples of standard explosive charges and means of their detonation used by the armed forces of the Russian Fed eration; to speed up their identification, to provide knowledge about the features of installation, use and possibilities of their neutralization.