Ukraine’s Contaminated Land: Clearing Landmines With Rakes, Tractors and Drones

Photo: A mine warning sign is on display in the yard of the Sysenko family in the village of Kamyanka, Kharkiv region, on May 1, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo credit: Ivan SAMOILOV / AFP.

Article by: Bellingcat reporters – Eoghan Macguire, Gyula Csák, Logan Williams and Galen Reich. AFP reporters – Boris Bachorz, Yulia Surkova, Kseniia Tomchik and Oleksii Obolensky.

Bellingcat article – July 2, 2025. This story was produced in partnership with Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In a field near the small town of Bezymenne in southern Ukraine, Viktoria Shynkar carefully picks out a narrow path through the overgrown grass in front of her. This small corridor of farmland in Mykolaiv Oblast will be checked for the presence of landmines and explosive ordnance. If clear, Shynkar – a 36-year-old who worked as a hairdresser before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 – will move forward and create another space of the same size. While she enjoys spending her days outside, it remains painstaking and dangerous work. […]

Click here to view original web page at www.bellingcat.com