“I looked at my leg and saw that there were no toes”

Mined territory of Ukraine is larger than England, Wales and Northern Ireland all together

According to estimates, 174 thousand square kilometers of Ukraine are contaminated by land mines.
This area is larger than England, Wales and Northern Ireland all together.
In the war-torn Kharkiv region, warning signs appear from time to time on the outskirts of the dark, barren fields where the front line used to be.
Here you can also see groups of deminers with metal detectors checking small areas of land fenced off with tape. They search literally every centimeter.
In Kharkiv region more mines were discovered than anywhere else in Ukraine.
This part of northeastern Ukraine near the russian border was first occupied and then liberated during the last year.

russians mine the territories to protect their positions and slow down Ukrainian counteroffensive

On February 24, 2022, russia started a full-scale invasion and seized part of the territory in the Kharkiv region, and also attempted to seize the city of Kharkiv itself.
By May, they had lost the battle for Ukraine's second largest city. And in September, almost all of the territory occupied by them in the Kharkiv region was liberated by a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The russians laid mines to protect their positions and slow down Ukrainian counteroffensive. After their rapid retreat, they left a deadly trail behind.
In the town of Balaklia, on a plot of land near a residential building, Oleksandr Rements' team has already found six anti-personnel mines. Earlier, they discovered about 200 others nearby.
"My relatives call me in the morning, they tell me to be careful and look under my feet," he says. "Last year, one of our sappers was blown up by a mine. His foot was torn off”. The next day after our conversation, another member of his team was injured by a mine.
According to officials, at least 29 people have died and another 121 have been injured since September in the Kharkiv region alone.

Anti-personnel mines “petals” can look like a toy, they are forbidden by the international law

More than 55,000 explosive objects were discovered and neutralized in this region.
Local authorities call sappers like Oleksandr "heroes", but it's frustrating that their efforts are insufficient compared to the scale of the problem.
The so-called "petal" mines, which are the most common in this area, are the desired catch of these sappers of the State Emergency Service. They are only about 10 cm wide, resemble the shape of a screw and fly apart when a rocket explodes.
They are prohibited by the international law because of their ability to indiscriminately injure and kill civilians.
This did not prevent them from being used in this war.
When Sergiy was helping his friend load the car, he did not pay much attention to the apricot tree nearby.
But as he stepped near it, he felt himself falling backwards from the explosion.
"I thought at first that maybe the crane had a broken wheel", he recalls from his hospital bed in the nearby town of Izyum.
"And then I looked at my leg - there were no toes, the entire sole is torn, blood is flowing".

Sergiy says the he has lost everything at a glance

Sergiy says that his house was also destroyed as a result of hostilities.
"Before, I was healthy, I walked, I did everything, I drove a car".
"And then - once! - in one moment - there is no house, no farm, and no leg".
Sergiy is under the supervision of an experienced trauma surgeon Yuriy Kuznetsov. A large, stately man with a tired but determined expression on his face.
Last year, he continued to work throughout russian occupation, remaining the only doctor at the Izyum hospital. He says that every week he receives patients affected by land mines.
"Unfortunately, in most cases, a collision with unknown explosive devices ends tragically. Losing a limb or other injuries is not the worst way out of this situation", he explains.
"For example, a week and a half ago, a patient came to us after careless handling of a found explosive device. And another person who was with him died".
Entire wings of the hospital where Yuriy works were destroyed. There are no windows in the corridor, and there are signs of landmines around the hospital buildings.
"Before the war, like any ordinary person, I thought more about material things in life", says Yuriy.
"Now we understand how fleeting everything is. The most important thing is that there should be peace and health".

Last week, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine reported that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of russia in February of last year, 724 people have been blown up by russian mines, 226 of them have died.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of russia in February of last year, 724 people have been blown up by russian mines

Izyum and the areas around it are one of the most mined places.
Human Rights Watch accused Ukraine of using illegal anti-personnel mines here. In response, Kyiv declared that, defending itself, it was guided by the international law.
The organization has previously accused russia of using similar explosive devices in Ukraine during a full-scale invasion.
According to the World Bank, demining Ukraine will cost 37.4 billion dollars.
Kyiv is asking for help from as many countries as possible"so that the demining process does not last a decade".
Given the fact that mines from the Second World War are still being discovered on the territory of Ukraine, such a pace may seem overly optimistic.

By Anna Chornous and Shivon Likhi
James Watergaus
BBC Ukraine