This story was produced in partnership with Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In a area close to the small city of Bezymenne in southern Ukraine, Viktoria Shynkar fastidiously picks out a slim path by the overgrown grass in entrance of her.
This small hall of farmland in Mykolaiv Oblast will probably be checked for the presence of landmines and explosive ordnance.
If clear, Shynkar – a 36-year-old who labored as a hairdresser earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 – will transfer ahead and create one other area of the identical measurement.
Whereas she enjoys spending her days exterior, it stays painstaking and harmful work.
Shynkar and her colleagues, who work for the demining charity the Halo Belief, uncovered 243 TM-62 Soviet-designed anti-tank mines left by the Russian military in a neighbouring area.
A chunky and intimidating 32-centimetres in diameter and 13-cm-wide, the TM-62 incorporates 7.5 kilos of TNT and might puncture a tank if triggered.
The presence of landmines and different unexploded ordnance is a big situation in Ukraine, impacting civilians and Ukraine’s agricultural business – a significant employer and supply of earnings to the nation.
Knowledge Challenges
Quite a few our bodies have sought to calculate the influence of landmines on Ukraine for the reason that onset of Russia’s full invasion.
Established by the Ministry of Defence, the nation’s Nationwide Mine Motion Centre (NMAC) has produced a map that highlights areas it confirms as hazardous, are suspected of being hazardous in addition to these which have been cleared or checked for hazards. It may be seen right here and within the picture under.
The data is collated from over 80 demining teams working within the nation, which make use of individuals like Shynkar. They gather information from the sector and share it with the NMAC who add it to this map made utilizing the IMSMA platform produced by the Geneva Worldwide Centre for Humanitarian Demining.
But the info the NMAC map incorporates, whereas vital, is barely partial.
For instance, it solely creates an image for the Ukrainian facet of the entrance line, and simply components of it at that, with an space 20 kilometres from the frontline inaccessible to demining teams. Those self same demining teams are additionally not working in Russian-controlled areas, making the general image even much less clear.
Moreover, simply because an space could also be famous as not being impacted in landmine datasets doesn’t imply that it’s not in danger from mines or different explosive ordnance that won’t have detonated on influence. Some might merely not have been discovered but.
Ready for Demining Teams To Go to
It is a concern for Ihor Kniazev, a farmer from the city of Dovhen’ke in Kharkiv Oblast. He complains to AFP that he has been ready a very long time for demining teams to go to. “Yearly, they promise ‘tomorrow, tomorrow, we’ll clear all of the fields’,” he says.
Kniazev says that he undertook the harmful activity of clearing his personal fields with a steel detector. “Everybody clears mines themselves, completely everybody,” he insists. He even says that he ran over a mine in his tractor and was fortunate to not be injured.
An interactive map reveals the world round Dovhen’ke overlaid with information from Ukraine’s Nationwide Mine Motion Centre (NMAC). Areas shaded crimson depict confirmed hazardous areas, in accordance with NMAC information. Areas shaded yellow depict suspected hazardous areas, in accordance with NMAC information. Knowledge supply right here. Areas colored gentle inexperienced on the map depict agricultural land as outlined by Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture crop map device. Knowledge supply right here. Map credit score: Logan Williams and Galen Reich/Bellingcat.
Whereas Kniazev discovered that his land was certainly contaminated, his predicament highlights an essential situation in demining in Ukraine and for farmers returning to areas that had been beforehand occupied or close to strains of contact.
Whereas some areas are clearly recognized as being mined, there stays uncertainty round these which might be solely suspected of being mined.
A number of consultants AFP and Bellingcat spoke to warned of the financial harm that might come up from suspicions that become incorrect. As a 2024 UN Improvement Programme report acknowledged, areas suspected of being contaminated however not really contaminated are both left alone or subjected to the identical prolonged clearance course of at what may be vital value.
Such land might in any other case be used to develop crops and assist reestablish returning farmers. Ukraine stays an enormous meals exporter regardless of the battle, making certain the difficulty is critical past its borders.
Some farmers AFP spoke to highlighted the complexity of making an attempt to determine which areas had been contaminated and which weren’t.
When Detectors Change into Ineffective
Within the city of Kamyanka in Kharkiv Oblast, Victor and Larisa Sysenko discuss their gratitude to a staff from the Swiss Basis for Demining (FSD) who helped clear their land with the assistance of a specialist demining machine. “There have been plenty of explosions beneath that machine,” recalled Larisa.
Lots of the mines had been PFM-1 anti-personnel mines, that are extra delicate than anti-tank mines and may be lethal if stepped on by individuals. The Sysenkos have additionally needed to cope with the hazard of unexploded shells, remnants of a Ukrainian assault on retreating Russian troops in 2022 that remained burrowed within the gentle soil with out exploding.
Nonetheless, in a collection of different fields close by, it was a distinct story as FSD deminers discovered solely three explosive remnants after a protracted and time-consuming search.
One of many FSD staff instructed AFP that the steel contamination in these fields was “so immense that our detectors grew to become ineffective, consistently beeping”. Of the 1000’s of steel fragments detected, the overwhelming majority proved non-explosive.
An interactive map reveals the world round Kamyanka overlaid with information from Ukraine’s Nationwide Mine Motion Centre (NMAC). Areas shaded crimson depict confirmed hazardous areas, in accordance with NMAC information. Areas shaded yellow depict suspected hazardous areas, in accordance with NMAC information. Knowledge supply right here. Areas colored gentle inexperienced on the map depict agricultural land as outlined by Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture crop map device. Knowledge supply right here. Map credit score: Logan Williams and Galen Reich/Bellingcat.
A number of hundred miles to the west within the city of Korobchyne, Mykola Pereverzev describes constructing a remote-controlled tractor to try to activate the entire mines laid in round 200 hectares of fields current there.
Pereverzev, who works for an agricultural agency, describes the tractor being blown up and constructing one other as the primary was past restore.
The land is ultimately getting used once more, and Pereverzev is placing down herbicides within the soil to sow sunflowers.
However doubts stay about what might lie beneath.
“Troopers have the saying you could move by one place usually 5 occasions, and blow up on the sixth time. Even professionals blow up, so what about us? We’re simply an agriculture firm,” he says.
An interactive map reveals the world round Korobchyne overlaid with information from Ukraine’s Nationwide Mine Motion Centre (NMAC). Areas shaded crimson depict confirmed hazardous areas, in accordance with NMAC information. Areas shaded yellow depict suspected hazardous areas, in accordance with NMAC information. Knowledge supply right here. Areas colored gentle inexperienced on the map depict agricultural land as outlined by Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture crop map device. Knowledge supply right here. Map credit score: Logan Williams and Galen Reich/Bellingcat.
Falling Exports
Unsurprisingly, Ukraine’s agricultural exports have been severely impacted for the reason that onset of Russia’s full invasion.
The nation’s Agriculture Minister, Vitaliy Koval, instructed AFP that “grain manufacturing has dropped from 84 million tons in 2021 to 56 million tons.”.
He continued: “Ukraine has 42 million hectares of agricultural land, together with arable land. On paper, we will domesticate 32 million hectares. However out there, non-contaminated, non-occupied land? 24 million hectares.”
“Once we come to Brussels (to arrange Ukraine’s future EU membership), they present us an infographic saying we’ve got 42 million hectares. However the actuality, sadly, is 24 million,” Koval mentioned.
Not all of that is right down to the presence of landmines or explosive ordnance, in fact. Different components additionally contribute to agricultural output. These embody land being positioned in areas of ongoing combating, farm tools being destroyed or farmers becoming a member of the armed forces, fleeing to security or not returning.
But landmines stay a big a part of the combo.
Koval’s workplace acknowledged that simply over 123,000 km2 of land nonetheless must be assessed for the presence of landmines or explosives. That may be a enormous space, nearly the identical measurement as Greece, a lot of which stays inaccessible alongside the 1,500 km frontline.
When it comes to agricultural areas which might be accessible and have been assessed up to now, nonetheless, 14,200 hectares was outlined by the Ministry of Agriculture as being contaminated. As of Could 2025, 11,800 hectares of this space had been cleared, the ministry mentioned.
To be clear, although, these figures don’t have in mind areas that stay suspected of being contaminated or the massive frontline space that’s presently inaccessible to demining teams, all of which can must be assessed in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later. If Ukraine was to withdraw from the Ottawa Conference on anti-personnel mines, because it mentioned it could final week, this seemingly would add one other layer of complexity to future demining efforts. Russia by no means signed the 1997 conference and several other of Ukraine’s neighbors have just lately signaled they could go away the treaty as nicely.
Making Selections
Paul Heslop is Programme Supervisor for Mine Motion on the UN Improvement Programme in Ukraine. Like all consultants who had been interviewed for this text, he’s cautious about making exact estimations as to the size of the landmine situation given the size of the frontline and the numerous unknowns that stay in a rustic at battle.
But he acknowledges to AFP that it’s vital, with seemingly tens of millions of mines or unexploded shells within the floor in Ukraine.
However he provides that by organising and being strategic about which areas are prioritised for evaluation, land that’s of probably the most significance can doubtlessly be put again to productive use first.
Probably the most contaminated land will fall inside the space closest to the frontline, he instructed AFP. Simply past that, there’s nonetheless an space that’s nonetheless considerably impacted, though much less intensely, he provides. Inside this space “you’ve got vital infrastructure, bridges, energy strains, energy crops … transformers, faculties, hospitals. They must be cleared first,” he says.
By means of instance, Heslop factors to farming areas north of Kyiv or between the Ukrainian capital and Kharkiv that had been occupied within the early days of the battle. “Lots of that land has now been assessed as not contaminated … or the areas that had been contaminated have now been cleared.”
Nonetheless, some areas – particularly alongside the present entrance line space – will probably be being assessed for a very long time, he acknowledges.
Pete Smith is one other distinguished hand within the demining sport.
He oversees the work of the Halo Belief and their 1,500 workers in Ukraine. Like Heslop, he recognises the size of the problem, suggesting Ukraine would be the most mined nation on the earth. However he additionally sees hope in new technological options which will quicken the tempo of demining.
Talking to AFP, he mentioned: “We’re in a position to innovate and produce know-how equivalent to satellite tv for pc imagery, drone imagery, all serving to us simply to drill right down to determine the place these pockets of focus of landmines and explosive ordnance are.”
He describes analysts taking a look at drone and satellite tv for pc photographs “pixel by pixel” to find mines and using AI algorithms to help the search. But whereas enthused by such developments, Smith provides: “It’s not an industrial course of but.”
“We’re getting low-level advantages,” he provides. “However I feel it’s that space the place we’ll proceed to develop.”
In the meanwhile, these out within the area, like Viktoria Shynkar, will proceed the job of demining Ukraine.
As of Could 31, 2025, she had been with the Halo Belief for a yr. It’s a place she feels snug in regardless of the hazard that comes with the job.
“Not as soon as have I regretted [taking on the work], in no way,” she says. “I just like the job very a lot. As a result of there are numerous good individuals right here, and I really feel like I’m resting at work.”
On high of that, the influence of what she is doing provides her satisfaction.
“There’s quite a lot of contamination … and farmers can’t work, can’t develop crops,” she says.
“We actually want this, so I wish to assist nonetheless I can, in order that our nation can prosper.”
Eoghan Macguire, Gyula Csák, Logan Williams and Galen Reich contributed to this report for Bellingcat.
Boris Bachorz reported for AFP with contributions from Yulia Surkova, Kseniia Tomchik and Oleksii Obolensky.
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