Status: 05/17/2022 12:39 p.m
Russian troops have left mines in many parts of Ukraine. Removing them will take years. Ukrainian women in Kosovo are already being trained as minesweepers against the insidious death traps.
Anastasia had other plans. Until Russia attacked Ukraine, she wanted to become a teacher, teach children. Until recently, she studied English. Instead, she is now standing in a blue protective suit and helmet on a meadow in Kosovo, holding a metal detector.
Anastasia is one of eight Ukrainian women who are being trained as deminers in Kosovo. The people who work for the state demining service are absolute heroes, she says – “but there aren’t enough to cover the whole area. Using Ukrainian women for this task was the best idea. Ukrainian women can do anything, absolutely anything .”
Searching for mines instead of studying: Anstasia has found a new job for herself – also to protect children.
Image: ARD Studio Vienna/Anna Tillack
pass on experiences
The women complete their theoretical and practical training at a company that specializes in explosive ordnance disposal in the Kosovar city of Peja. Instructor Artur Tigani, a former engineer in the Yugoslav army, has a wealth of experience. After the Kosovo War, he helped clear mines and duds himself.
There are still around 40 minefields in Kosovo today – relics from the war years at the end of the 1990s. Kosovars fought Yugoslav troops for control of Kosovo in 1998, and NATO troops intervened a year later.
Eight women are being trained in Kosovo – they discuss what they have learned with their trainer Artur Tigani.
Image: ARD Studio Vienna/Anna Tillack
Eyewitnesses and high tech
The ordnance that Russia is using in Ukraine today is the same as it was in Kosovo and the entire Balkans, says Tigani. He trains the women to first turn to eyewitnesses, then use special telescopes to look for suspicious objects, record what they find on maps and finally render the mines harmless.
A dangerous job that always pushes you to the limit, says Anastasia. One of her tasks that day was to look for mines deep in the forest – a difficult job, she says: “We missed one, which annoyed me greatly. It was almost impossible for me to see it.”
Worry travels with you
They practiced every day for three weeks. The women here want to take the opportunity to help their country. You can see on their faces that the war in their homeland is affecting them – they find it difficult to talk about it.
Her biggest fear, Anastasia says, is “that I won’t see people I love when I come back. Every single day I wake up and hope to see the news that the war is over.”
Using the right equipment correctly – that too can save lives.
Image: ARD Studio Vienna/Anna Tillack
Learn how to use GPS to locate the suspected minefield on the map.
Image: ARD Studio Vienna/Anna Tillack
A danger that remains
Experts suspect that after the end of the war, a relevant part of the country could also be mined in Ukraine. According to the Federal Foreign Office, the use of cluster munitions has increased again in the recent past.
People in around 60 countries around the world are suffering from the explosive legacies of past or more acute armed conflicts. According to the Save the Children organization, more than 70 percent of landmine victims are civilians, more than half of them children.