Clearing land mines by hand, farmers in Ukraine risk their lives for planting season

Valika Komyshuvaha, Ukraine
CNN
 — 

The first time Oleksandr Havriluk returned to his farm after it had been stormed and occupied by Russian troops, tears rolled down his face when he saw what they had left behind.

His farm buildings were almost completely destroyed, millions of dollars worth of heavy machinery had been left in ruins, and last year’s wheat harvest had been incinerated.

But the most pressing problem for Havriluk were the land mines which had been buried across his 12 square miles of surrounding fields.

Now, the 69-year-old is digging them up by hand, in a desperate effort to clear some of his fields before planting season begins in early April.

“I was afraid,” Havriluk said. “But I have to sow.”

So far, Havriluk says he has removed around 20 mines from his fields in Valika Komyshuvaha, close to the city Izium, using only a metal detector he purchased himself.

“You go, you find it, take a stick, tap it to determine the size, and then you dig it up,” he said. “And then you pick it up gently and take it out.”

The work is dangerous, he admits, but he adds, “I don’t have any other choice.”

It’s a stark choice that farmers across Ukraine are facing: clear the fields of explosives to prepare for planting season, or contemplate another year without income.

The Russian invasion has already strangled grain exports from Ukraine – one of the world’s great breadbaskets – and contributed to soaring prices of staple products like bread and cereals, even with a United Nations-brokered deal which has enabled the passage of Ukrainian ships through the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian military estimates that around a third of the country is currently contaminated by unexploded munitions, endangering this year’s harvest by leaving huge areas of fertile land lying dormant due to the deadly remnants of a war still being fought.

In recent months, several farm workers have been hurt or killed working in their fields, including a 65-year-old man who died instantly when he stepped on explosives near the village of Chervone in southern Ukraine, according to local officials.

Mine clearance operations are…