Ukraine- Signs for Mines

The Rotary Club of Kharkiv Nadiya (Hope) in Ukraine and the Rotary eClub of the State of Jefferson in Oregon are working to mark the mined areas with signs. This hidden danger is killing and maiming the children and farmers.

Kharkiv is near the front line. It is on the border with Russia and is one of the areas that have been most affected from the beginning of the invasion. The bombs are still falling and over thirty percent of the entire country is covered with landmines. The types of landmines used in Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022. It is not currently possible to systematically determine the number of landmines casualties or the humanitarian impact of new mine use since the invasion.

Russian forces have used at least seven types of antipersonnel mines in at least four regions of Ukraine: Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Sumy. This marks an unusual situation in which a country that is not party to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty uses the weapon on the territory of a party to the treaty. Landmine casualties have been reported in the conflict in Ukraine, but many may go unrecorded, especially if the victim was alone at the time of the incident. The impact of landmine use can also be seen in the denial of access to civilian homes, infrastructure, transportation routes, and agricultural lands.

During the 2022 sowing season, using tractors in agricultural fields and while traveling on rural paths and roads has become a high-risk activity. There have been at least 10 reports of tractors detonating landmines in the Kyiv region since the start of the conflict.

A farm owner in the village of Malaya Rohan, about four kilometers east of Kharkiv city, told Human Rights Watch that his employee was plowing fields in mid-May when the tractor hit a landmine emplaced by Russian forces. The driver was not wounded, but the tractor was severely damaged. The incident took place in a field between Malaya Rohan and Stepanky village, both of which Russian forces had occupied from February 25 to March 26. A de-miner from Ukrainian emergency services who cleared the site said that Russian forces were responsible and that two more TM-62 mines were found 100 meters away on a dirt road in the field. Local residents told Human Rights Watch that the withdrawing Russian forces did not clear the mines they had emplaced, provide any warnings to avoid the area, or share maps of the mine locations.