Hidden and Long-Lasting Threats: A Journey through Ukraine's Mine Clearance Efforts

Just thirty kilometers from Kyiv, a deadly hide-and-seek operation is going on. Employees from The HALO Trust, the world’s oldest and largest landmine clearance organization, are working to clear landmines from an area the size of a football field. It’s slow, painstaking work with almost no room for mistakes left.

The work is dangerous enough that each team of five includes two paramedics, and every team member knows how to apply a tourniquet. However, the safety protocols developed over the last three decades mean statistically the risk of an accident is low, as long as the protocols are followed precisely.  

A team is checking every inch of the field. We’ll get to how they do it in a moment, but first, why are the landmines there?

When the Russians retreated from their attack on Kyiv in early April of 2022, they seeded the surrounding areas with landmines. The invaders had no known military objective for randomly planting landmines in the fields and forested areas near Kyiv. A likely reason for their doing so was the same reason they bombed residential buildings, destroyed museums, of disabled power stations: they wanted to demoralize the people of Ukraine.

Because of the Russian invaders, Ukraine is now the most heavily mined country in the world. A rule of thumb for how long it takes to clear landmines: for each day of fighting, it takes one month to clear the landmines. By this calculation, it could take four decades to remove the landmines already there.

REVEALING DEADLY SECRETS: CLEARING AWAY THE VEGETATION

When an area is targeted for landmine clearance, one of the first things the team will do is mow down any tall vegetation. To work effectively, metal detectors need to get close to the metal that they’re detecting, and in the field we’re looking at, the grasses are above knee height.

HALO professionals solve this problem by using a remotely-operated robotic “lawnmower.” Controlled by an operator stationed behind a seven-foot-tall shield, the machine can mow up to 1000 square meters of land in a day. It moves at the pace of a brisk walk, cutting a swath of about four feet.

FINDING THE MINES

Two members of the team, Olena and Yana, work as a pair. Wearing thick visors and body armor, they begin work on an area where the vegetation has just been mowed to within a couple of inches of the ground. Yana takes the lead, methodically swinging her metal detector so that it touches one side of the mowed pathway and then the other. Importantly, she’s not swinging the detector in an arc. Rather, it’s a straight horizontal line from side to side, 

When she finds nothing, she moves forward about eight inches, the exact width of the metal detector. Behind her, Olena is hammering in stakes on both sides of the 1.5 meter wide lane, indicating with the marker stakes that another eight inches is safe.

About 20 yards into the walk, Yana’s metal detector begins emitting an eerie whine. Yana freezes, takes a step backwards, and drops to her knees. She puts the metal detector aside, and taking a soft bristled brush that she’s carried with her, gently sweeps away the cut vegetation left behind from the mowing machine. 

In 20 seconds, she finds the metal object that’s causing the whine. It’s a harmless AA battery.  A false alarm.

DISPOSING OF MINES

If Yana had found an actual mine instead of the harmless battery, her job would be to show its location with a three-inch triangle-shaped wooden marker colored white and red.  She’d report the dangerous object to her supervisor, who will in turn contact the government ordnance disposal technicians.   

Ordnance disposal technicians have at least three years training. They deactivate the landmines and then transport them to a collection site miles away from human habitation. Roughly once a week, the technicians will detonate the explosive remnants that mine clearers nearby have found in the course of the week. On a typical week there might be dozens, depending on area of deployment.

IMPACT OF LANDMINES

Whether Ukraine’s recovery after the war is over will depend on how fast the landmine clearance progresses. The current pace is too slow, and the normal rule of a month of land mine clearance for each day of war, could mean decades before Ukraine is safe.

Instead, we need to increase the number of landmine clearers. Looking at the matter from a broader point of view, we need to find new ways to clear landmines altogether. Together, we can forge a future free from hidden threats, and in the spirit of a modern-day Manhattan Project or Moonshot, expedite the journey towards a landmine-free Ukraine, where safety and peace and recovery can flourish.