Status: 04/14/2023 06:11 a.m
In the Ukraine, an area twice the size of Austria is said to be contaminated with land mines – probably for decades. In some places, every step can mean terrible injuries.
A chair, a walker and a black plastic shoe are standing in front of Mykola Shalomov’s white-painted hospital bed. One shoe, not two. Because when the 62-year-old pushes himself out of the pillows and sits on the edge of the bed, his left lower leg just reaches under the struts of the slatted frame. The bandaged leg stump dangles gently against the metal of the bed.
Where Mykola Shalomov’s left foot used to be, there is nothing today. No toes, no heel, no lower leg. Only a dull numbness remained, a scratching pain, says Schalomov. A phantom pain in his amputated foot that is no longer part of his body and yet his body can still feel it.
Land mines and explosive devices endanger the Ukrainian population
Tobias Dammers, ARD Kiev, Morgenmagazin, April 12, 2023
A mine in front of your own house
It’s been around three weeks since the polite, clean-shaven man in the blue-checked shirt stepped on a hidden landmine at the ruins of his burned-down house in Dovgenke, eastern Ukraine. “I screamed and screamed,” says Shalomov, “then the neighbors came.”
The residents drive him to the clinic in Isjum. In an emergency operation, Shalomov’s lower leg is amputated. Now he does strengthening exercises, swings his left leg, moves around the hallways with a walker and wheelchair. Four other mine patients are also being treated at the clinic.
Mine victim Mykola Shalomov says he knows 13 other people who have stepped on mines. In the future he wants to move to another area. The fear of the mines in the ground is too great.
Image: ARD Studio Kyiv
“What if the grandchildren come to visit?”
Svetlana stepped on a mine in her garden. What was her toes the day before yesterday is now little more than a lump of pale flesh. Karina caught it in the cemetery. Her right foot is wrapped in a fresh bandage, red blood soaking the cloth.
“I know thirteen other people who have stepped on mines,” says Shalomov. “I’m fine, others are much worse off.” He used to be a small farmer, kept cattle and liked to go fishing. His goal now is to learn to walk again.
His doctor gives him hope: the injury should heal in three to six months. After that, they could try to find a prosthesis for him.
But Shalomov doesn’t want to stay in the area in the future, he says. The hidden land mines that can be found anywhere in the ground scared him. What, he asks, could happen when the grandchildren come to visit?
The trauma surgeon from Isjum
The man who amputated Shalomov’s leg and saved his life is wearing a green scrub shirt, hat and a weary look. Yuriy Kuznetsov is the clinic’s traumatologist.
Because the hospital’s former operating wing collapsed during the fighting around Izyum, Kuznetsov has turned an old office into a makeshift treatment room. According to Kuznetsov, there is currently a lack of larger sterilization devices and modern prostheses.
The injuries are also “difficult to accept and grasp” for the victims, he says. It’s also a psychological challenge: “It’s harder, especially for the younger ones.”
Because the hospital’s operating theater was destroyed during the fighting around Izyum, the surgeon Kuznetsov now works in an old office. Above all, there is a lack of larger sterilization devices and modern prostheses, he says.
Image: ARD Studio Kyiv
740 civilian mine casualties
According to the United Nations, more than 740 civilians have been injured or killed by mines or other leftover explosives across the country since the Russian invasion began. Kuznetsov is not allowed to say how many landmine patients he treated in Izyum. Except that Izyum has the most cases in the entire Kharkiv region.
Izyum was occupied by Russian troops for several months, and Ukrainian units recaptured the town in the autumn. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch accuses Russian troops of using anti-personnel mines in many areas of Ukraine.
Evidence of this can be found in many formerly occupied sites, although Russia denies targeting civilians. Anti-personnel mines are banned internationally because they pose a great danger to the civilian population, not just to soldiers.
Allegations against Ukraine
Regarding the mines in Izyum, Human Rights Watch has also called on the Ukrainian army to investigate the alleged use of anti-personnel mines. “Russian troops have repeatedly used anti-personnel mines and committed atrocities across the country, but this does not justify Ukraine’s use of banned weapons,” the organization writes.
Ukraine insists on complying with international law – including not using anti-personnel mines.
Trauma surgeon Kuznetsov does not want to comment on whether the mines in Izyum were Russian or Ukrainian. “I’m not a mine expert,” he says, “I only treat injuries.” But he says that during the occupation the hospital served as a Russian field hospital. With the exception of a small access road for civilians, all access points have been mined.
No repairs without clearance
Red warning signs with a skull and crossbones can be seen everywhere in the city and in the surrounding area. In front of the cemetery, on factory premises, on the side of the road, in front of wooded areas. “Danger! Mines!” stands on it. According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal, an area twice the size of Austria is contaminated by mines.
Maxim Jurevych from the Ukrainian civil protection service has already started to search for and defuse mines. Wearing a heavy protective vest, helmet and boots, the explosives expert searches a corridor along a destroyed power line with a mine detector.
The repair work cannot begin until the area has been cleared of mines, explains Jurewytsch. “Without us, Ukraine’s reconstruction would take much longer.”
No one knows where and how many mines the Russian troops left.
Image: ARD Studio Kyiv
Eviction will take decades
It’s unsecured terrain: every step could set off a mine. A few days ago, two colleagues were injured while clearing a mine, says Jurewytsch.
Mines made of plastic are particularly dangerous. Because the sensors of Jurewytsch’s device react primarily to metal in the ground: mines, remains of ammunition, waste. Jureviych’s team also finds the debris of a Russian cluster bomb.
As soon as the mine detector goes off, they carefully check the spot. “A man without fear is a dangerous man,” says Jurewytsch, “he might overlook something.” Other deminers follow at a careful distance and mark the secured route with red and white warning tapes on trees and bushes.
No one knows where and how many mines the Russian troops left. One morning the deminers mark a strip several kilometers long along the power line. There aren’t enough resources for the wide meadows and fields to the right and left. Clearing all mines will likely take decades. According to the federal government, Germany has provided over 26 million euros for this so far.