In Ukraine, protective footwear "Pavuky" has been patented, which prevents sapper teams from losing limbs when triggering antipersonnel mines.
This was reported by the director of the Ukrainian Spring Center enterprise in Kharkiv, Ihor Yefymenko, to Ukrinform.
"We received a patent for the system designed to protect legs from blast-type antipersonnel mines. These are our so-called 'Pavuky.' Now our product not only has certifications according to all NATO standards, but we have also protected the intellectual property of our model. This indicates that our product is unique," said Yefymenko.
According to him, the Canadian prototype was refined, so the Kharkiv product differs in both its structural elements and the materials used. The patent took more than a year to be granted.
"From the beginning, we said we were inspired by the Canadian product, and the goal was to protect our rescuers and sapper teams. But I’ve seen online videos and hate that say it’s a copy. But what we patented were precisely our technical solutions," Yefymenko noted.
The enterprise has already manufactured 2,000 pairs of "Pavuky," and a military contract will soon be signed.
"We have information about 20 cases of explosions – and in all of them, the limbs were preserved. Yes, there were injuries, fractures, but no amputations," Yefymenko pointed out.
He also mentioned that Russia has started producing similar protective footwear.
"It’s copied from ours. Even the name 'Pavuky' was stolen. I suggested it when we were working on the development," Yefymenko said.
