DIY landmine-clearing is putting Ukrainian farmers in danger

RUSSIA’S INVASION has turned Ukraine into the world’s most heavily mined country. In Kherson and Kharkhiv Russian soldiers left minefields when they retreated. As well as laying mines to defend their positions, they used them to disrupt Ukrainian farming. One Russian rocket system—known as zemledeliye or “agriculture”—hurls mines up to 15km away from the launcher. Farming is a pillar of Ukraine’s economy: agricultural exports were worth $27.7bn in 2021, more than 40% of total exports. But 7.5% of Ukraine’s farmland is not in use, according to NASA, following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. There has been a human cost, too: 170 farmers have been killed, accounting for almost 20% of civilian deaths by landmines or unexploded ordnance, says Colonel Yevhenii Zubarevskyi, head of statistics at the defence ministry’s Mine Action Directorate. With spring sowing under way, what is being done?

When Russia’s invasion began, only four outfits were authorised to run demining operations in Ukraine, besides the army and government bodies. Today that figure is 29, with a further 19 in the process of acquiring the requisite licences. But deminers are still overwhelmed. Proper clearance is difficult and expensive: teams start by interviewing locals and hunting for clues, like craters, that could suggest the presence of mines or unexploded shells, before going in with detection equipment and protective gear. Nibulon, a big Ukrainian grain exporter that has its own demining unit, charges farmers only for its expenses. Even then demining can cost more than $5,000 per hectare. Despite government subsidies, that is too costly for many farmers. Some have bought or rented land farther away from the front lines, says Mykhailo Rizak, Nibulon’s head of government relations. Others, he laments, have taken matters into their own hands.