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Senior citizen in the Ukraine war
Mine detection for a cow
Stepova Dolyna, a rural community of 150 inhabitants in the Mykolaiv region: Between the ruins of her village in southwestern Ukraine, pensioner Hanna Plishchynska searches her fields with a metal detector for mines and war debris. It does this mainly for a farm animal.
Hanna Plishchynska, farmer: "If it weren't for the cow, I wouldn't do it. Everyone laughs at me for walking through the garden and looking. But in the pastures over there, the cows are being killed. And I walk around here, check, observe, and then let the cow out."
Plishchynska can also grow vegetables only after thoroughly checking the soil.
Hanna Plishchynska, farmer: "Of course I'm afraid. I'm scared, but I keep going. When I hear a beep, I stop and see what it is."
Their village was on the front line and was heavily shelled from both sides. The farmer's wife wanted to hold out, but eventually fled with her cow, chickens and ducks. After the liberation of the city of Kherson in November last year, the armies withdrew, the area is in ruins. Farmer Plishchynska is back, her house is still standing, but the dangers now lurk in the ground.
Hanna Plishchynska, farmer: "I'll take a stick and make a mark, that's what the police told me. I mark the spot and then call our policeman, who comes and takes the things away. Once he came and took something, I don't know what it was, a piece with wings. And the small parts, the fragments, I pick up myself. I see that they are just fragments, broken pieces of explosives. I put the exploded parts over there and leave them there, they don't bother me."
According to the United Nations, dozens of mine-related accidents are reported in the region every month. In addition to humanitarian aid workers, farmers are particularly threatened.