UKRAINE, KHARKIV OBLAST, May 7 — On May 6, the “HALO Trust” nonprofit organization passed to communities ownership 18 demined agricultural territories, including the most mined territories near Kamiana Yaruha and Korobochkine villages of Chuhuiv district.
Gwara Media talked to representatives of “HALO Trust” about the most mined territories of the Kharkiv region — it’s organization that specializes in humanitarian demining. It has been working in the east of Ukraine since 2015.
This year, 18 agricultural territories were demined across 45 hectares — far more than 11 hectars they went through last year.
Experts say there is still much work to be done because Kharkiv Oblast is one of the most mined regions — specialists identified 399 contaminated territories across 1656 hectares of the region, and only 150 hectares of them have been cleared so far.
“As we see, military science is developing, and the threats are becoming more modern and dangerous. We often see non-standard mines placement and new types of mines,” said Oleh Klymenchukov, head of the demining operation in Kharkiv Oblast.
Klymenchukov said that the “standard danger” for the Kharkiv region is a land mine in a plastic case and an anti-personnel mine “OZM-72.” The organization neutralizes them using both manual and mechanized demining.
“Demining of our community (Chkalovske community of Chuhuiv district — ed.) started in 2023 and is still ongoing because settlements are very contaminated with mines. After de-occupation (in September 2022), Hrakove became the most mined village in Ukraine. The demining operation there continues to this day,” said Serhii Kotenko, head of the Chkalovske settlement military administration, to Gwara Media.
Kotenko also said that the owners of mined land cleaned some territories by themselves. For example, farmers put control panels on their tractors and go through all fields, cleaning them of mines. However, this could be very dangerous, he said, and there have been cases when farmers have been blown up by mines in this way.
Instead, Maksym, the farmer and deminer of “HALO Trust,” said they have efficient and safe technology.
“Mechanized demining is conducted first, when we are protected (from potential explosion) with a metal shield. The minimum distance from the shield to the demining machine is 25 meters if the threat is small. To save equipment, we have no right to drive closer than 10 meters to land mines if there is a confirmed line of them,” he said.
For now, Kharkiv Oblast is one of the most mined regions in Ukraine. More than 40% of its territory, including 574 hectars of farmlands, is contaminated with explosive devices.
Just over May 6 two men were blown up by mines in just one day in the Izium district of Kharkiv region — both were hospitalized.
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