Ukraine is now considered the most heavily mined country in the world.
Nearly 1,000 civilians have been killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnances since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
And about a third of the country needs to be cleared of these explosives.
Most of that land is along the border with Russia, in eastern Ukraine. But it also includes parts of the Kyiv region, where Russian forces battled with Ukrainians early in the war.
Yuriy Zahoryui manages a 15,000-acre farm north of Kyiv, in an area that Russian forces reached in their failed push for the Ukrainian capital early into the war.
Security cameras at the farm caught tanks rolling over the land.
Zahoryui said that about 10% of his farm fields are still mined, including one he showed to The World.
“Last spring, we found around 10 anti-tank mines here, and one local resident got injured when one of the mines blew up,” he said, adding, “Where we’re standing right now was sort of a gray zone, because [the] Ukrainian military was positioned over there behind the forest, 500 feet away from here. And over there, there is a highway leading towards Kyiv.”
About 20% of Ukraine’s farmland was off-limits in 2022 due to unexploded ordnances or active fighting, in a country where agriculture is a major driver of the economy.
Zahoryui spoke to The World’s environmental correspondent, Carolyn Beeler, about the impact of the war on the farm.
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