A tractor hit a mine in a field between the villages of Verbivka and Vovchyi Yar in Kharkiv Oblast, killing two men, aged 39 and 47, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on May 2.
Syniehubov urged locals to be as careful as possible and not to visit forests, forest strips, fields, banks of reservoirs, and other potentially mined areas.
He earlier said on national television that almost 66,000 explosive objects have been detected and neutralized in the region so far.
Some 250,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian land – nearly 40% of the country’s territory – have been mined since Russia's full-scale invasion last year, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Dec. 8.
“It's currently the largest minefield in the world,” Shmyhal said. According to the prime minister, the area of mined territory is larger than the entire Korean Peninsula, Romania, and almost the size of Great Britain.
The large-scale mining of Ukrainian land makes it difficult and highly dangerous for local farmers to grow crops and harvest, putting at risk the country’s vital agricultural industry.
The State Emergency Service earlier reported that after the end of the war, Ukraine would need at least 10 years to demine its territory.
Alexander Khrebet
