Ukraine's Mine Crisis: Civilians Clear Fields as Demining Lags

Olena Kabanova, 58, kneels in a weed-choked field and digs. Using a shovel and a steady hand, she cuts a clean square around a spot where a mine detector has flagged a suspicious object. Four years ago Russian soldiers occupied this field in eastern Ukraine; it is now back under Ukrainian control and strewn with landmines. Civilians like Kabanova are trying to make the land usable again. No country in the world is as heavily mined as Ukraine, according to the report. Some mines detonate as footsteps approach, and entire villages are off-limits to clearance teams. A deputy minister, shrugging, explains why the work cannot move faster. Landmines plague all war zones: scattered across contested territory, they render land unusable for years after fighting ends, and clearing them is costly and dangerous. The report examines why the government itself is slowing demining in Ukraine, widely described as the most heavily mined country in the world.