The invasion of Russia turned Ukraine into a world leader in the number of mines. Minefields remained in Kherson and Kharkiv, which Russian soldiers used not only for defense, but also for attacking agriculture. One of the missile systems, known as "Zemlerobstvo", can scatter mines at a distance of up to 15 km.
An article in The Economist draws attention to the black market for demining in Ukraine. Agriculture, which is an important branch of the economy, suffers as a result of landmines. Losses among farmers, who make up a significant proportion of total civilian casualties, have already exceeded 170. What is done now that spring sowing begins?
At the beginning of the Russian aggression, only four organizations, apart from the army and state structures, were allowed to conduct demining operations in Ukraine. Now this number has increased to 29, and another 19 organizations are in the process of obtaining the necessary licenses. However, sappers remain overworked. The demining process is complex and costly: teams first survey local residents and look for clues, such as sinkholes, that may indicate the presence of unexploded mines or shells, before deploying mine detection equipment and protective gear. Nibulon, a major grain exporter that has its own demining division, only requires farmers to cover their costs. However, even in this case, demining can be expensive, costing more than $5,000 per hectare. Despite government subsidies, it is becoming too expensive for many farmers. Some of them chose to buy or rent land away from the front line, reports Mykhailo Rizak, head of the department of relations with authorities at the Nibulon company. Others, he said, decided to take the initiative into their own hands.
The most common homemade demining takes place on small farms. Viktor Sheremeta, a former deputy minister of agriculture and now head of the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners of Ukraine, estimates that about a tenth of the association's 10,000 members are engaged in demining. After finding mines using metal detectors or long probes, most of them report it to the authorities. However, some choose to defuse the mines themselves by throwing objects or using rollers on the front of tractors equipped with armored structures made of scrap metal. This, of course, is extremely dangerous.
The problem of the black market for demining is also growing. These "dark miners" offer low prices, hiring workers for minimum wage and not providing them with insurance. Although many of them have military engineering experience, they often have no experience with modern types of mines. A farmer from the Kherson region, Oleg Ushkal, was approached by unlicensed sappers who offered to clear his land for a low price - approximately $100 per hectare. He refused. His harvesters were stolen by Russian soldiers, and he missed the harvest, leaving him penniless. He also did not trust contractors. Some of the mines he spotted were wrapped in plastic, making them difficult to detect. According to him, anti-tank mines on nearby farms took the lives of seven tractor drivers.
Usually, dark sappers are hired where Russian troops pass quickly without leaving a thick layer of mines. They are also more common within 20 km of the front, where non-state sappers have no access. Most of them are employed by farms that avoid reporting to the tax office and the government. Tax evasion in agriculture, he adds, has become widespread.
The work of shadow miners is dangerous due to their low quality, which puts both them and their clients at risk. Insufficiently effective procedures can result in landmines being placed in positions that make them difficult to detect and defuse. According to a Ukrainian security official, about half of the farmers killed by landmines were in fields where improvised demining was taking place.
With most of the fields already thawed after last winter, makeshift clearing is gaining momentum. However, there is one encouraging sign, according to Tony Salvo of the Kyiv-based charity Mines Without Borders. The Ukrainian police realized the threat of "dark" demining due to the increasing number of victims. Previously, law enforcement officers usually responded only after accidents, but now they are investigating the activities of "dark miners" to get ahead of them. The fight against this phenomenon has begun.
