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Ukraine: This is how the tractor becomes a mine clearing vehicle
Mined fields as far as the eye can see. In Ukraine, the state can hardly keep up with clearing explosive devices. Farmers are now resorting to self-help.Snihurivka, Ukraine
The war in Ukraine has turned the country into one of the largest minefields in the world. ---
Farmers face a dangerous trap when trying to sow the next crop. To combat the thousands of explosive devices left on the ground, Ukrainian farmers are resorting to creative means: They are equipping tractors with a roller device. The demand for the makeshift mine clearance vehicles is high.
Jaroslaw Ogiewich, engineer
“We tried to build a demining vehicle with minimal resources. We are very aware that it could be its last mission, depending on what it will be driving on.”
If it hits a mine or other unexploded ammunition, the remote-controlled tractor will detonate. For farmers, home-made machines are vital to their survival. Because, like here in the Mykolaiv region in the south, the fields in large parts of the country are contaminated with explosive devices:
Mykola Kozlow, farmer
»We found this in the fields of our farm. These are mines with a caliber of 120 millimeters. This is part of a burr thrower. There are many of them. There are shrapnel here. Our fields are littered with shrapnel. That’s what the war brought us.”
Ukrainian authorities assume that around 30 percent of the entire country has been mined by Russian troops. Although the government announced that it would clear the agricultural land as quickly as possible, the state can hardly keep up with the clearance. So farmers continue to rely on their own initiative. For them this is the faster alternative.