Oleksandr Hordienko tiptoed into a wheat field that had recently served as a Russian tank position, closely following an aide with a metal detector. He stopped when he came to a row of metal discs that glittered in the sun. Tank mines, hundreds of them, were laid out in a checkerboard pattern on his field and presented a problem before the spring planting season.
Farmers who choose to work their land run the risk of death or loss of limb from the mines, projectiles, and other munitions that litter the fields. Those who don’t risk economic crisis: the conflict has already cost the southern Kherson region three harvests, and there are no signs that agriculture will soon resume its role as the engine of Ukraine’s economy.
Producers of watermelon, barley, sunflower oil and corn, Ukrainian farms have sustained generations, delivered vast amounts of food to the world and could now provide a much-needed livelihood for the country. The Russian troops that once occupied much of southern Ukraine have departed, but they have left behind a colossal array of explosives.
“They completely filled I don’t know how many dozens of kilometers with mines,” said Hordienko, who grows wheat and rapeseed on 600 hectares. “How we are going to remove them all, no one knows yet.”.
The Ukrainian army drove Russian forces out of much of the Kherson region in the fall, but recovery after eight months of occupation has been slow. Russian troops still control territory in the region east of the Dnipro river, meaning much of the newly liberated land remains within Russian artillery range. In areas at a safer distance, such as Hordienko’s farmlandUkrainian deminers known as sappers have yet to inspect and remove thousands of mines and unexploded ordnance before someone can resume a normal life.
The HALO Trust, a global mine-clearing organization, estimates that the explosives may have contaminated a territory the size of Great Britain. The problem is most acute in the Kherson region.
“The Russians placed mines in everything from towns and power lines to children’s toys, doghouses, and beehives.”, said Oleksandr Dvoretskyi, head of demining in the region of the state emergency service of Ukraine. “The goal was to prevent us from giving people back a stable life”.
Since October, its sappers have destroyed more than 16,000 mines and artillery. Clearing agricultural fields poses a particular challenge. Dvoretskyi estimates that some 300,000 hectares will have to be cleared.
A shipping corridor, negotiated by the United Nations last year to allow Ukrainian grain to bypass the Russian siege for shipment abroad, has partly eased the war-induced global food crisis. The agreement, which expired on March 18, has been extended, but farmers must be able to plant and harvest grain again for shipments to continue.
Experts say it is too early to estimate how long it will take to clear all the mines. Meanwhile, farmers have begun to carefully inspect their land. Hordienko has found 1,500 mines, though he believes there could be hundreds more.
Hordienko, who is a member of the regional council and president of the Kherson Region Farmers’ Association, said he did not anticipate being able to start planting until the fall, and even then, it will only be on the part of his land that is free of explosives. .
Since the start of the war, nearly 200 civilians have been killed by mines, HALO reports, though this is likely an undercount. Hundreds have been injured.
At the side of the road, Hordienko pointed out pieces of twisted metal that had once been a car. Around the New Year, a couple and their two children were killed when they ran over a tank mine.
Many Ukrainian farmers believe Russian forces targeted their fields to starve Ukrainians and ruin an important economic engine.
At a grain storage facility in the Kherson region owned by Nibulon, one of the country’s largest agricultural exporters, not a single building was left undamaged. They even blew up the metal water tower.
“Wherever they saw a warehouse they shot, and it didn’t matter if there were civilians or military there.said Bohdan Muzyka, deputy director of Nibulon. “There is a feeling that the Russians simply wanted to destroy everything”.
By: MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ and STANISLAV KOZLIUK
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6635408, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-03-29 21:10:09
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