An unexploded device left behind by the Russian army exploded in Myroliubivka, a village in Kherson Oblast, on May 14, killing five people aged between 27 and 68, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak reported.
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, risking 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.
Illia Ponomarenko
