Russia has turned Eastern Ukraine into a large minefield

The Liberated City of Kherson: On the Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union and the Challenge of Mining, Remediation, and Restoration

The fall of the Soviet Union made progress in protecting the natural resources of a heavily industrialized Ukraine. Over 270 sites now make up its Emerald Network of protected conservation zones, accounting for 10 percent of the country, and tree-felling restrictions have helped preserve the unique plants and animals that call those areas home. Even in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, still laced with radiation from the 1986 nuclear disaster, populations of bears and wolves have returned and flourished. Ukraine isn’t as clean as it once was, but before the Russians came it was getting greener too.

Vehicles leak oil and diesel. Fires aerosolize pollutants, propelling chemicals and particulate matter into the atmosphere, which then falls as a kind of toxic snow. Over one hundred thousand acres have burned inUkraine as a result of battles and forest fires.

The contamination of groundwater is uniquely insidious. Wind does a good job of blowing air pollution out of a given area, but if chemicals seep underground, they tend to stay there much longer, says Nickolaï Denisov, deputy director of the Zoï Environment Network, which has long monitored Ukraine. “It’s a much more stable environment,” says Denisov. It’s polluted once it’s polluted. And it may take a very, very long time—many years—for groundwater to get rid of pollution.”

Residents of the liberated city of Kherson face shortages of bread and medicines, as efforts continued Sunday to remove mines and restore infrastructure after the withdrawal of Russian forces.

Residents of the city are warned to beware of explosives and Russian forces are near the Dnipro River.

This is not the end of the struggle against the Russian occupation in the country, reports CNN’s Nic Robertson, who witnessed emotional scenes Saturday in Kherson’s central square as residents hailed their liberation.

“Kherson is now a front line city,” he said. “Last night and in the early hours of this morning you could hear outgoing fire towards the Russian forces.”

On Saturday, Ukraine’s National Police warned “the main threat at the moment is mass mining,” with a police representative injured while demining one of the city’s administrative buildings.

In his Saturday speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that almost 2,000 “explosive items” have been removed from the Kherson region. He wanted Kherson residents to not try to check out the buildings on their own.

The bomb disposal experts, the police, and the defense forces are all working in Kherson.

Zelensky said that the occupiers destroyed the critical infrastructure before fleeing from Kherson.

Weather conditions are getting tougher, with sub-zero temperatures at night, CNN’s team in Kherson city reports, and no heating in the city. Ukrainian authorities have said that those who find it too hard to live in Kherson can move to other parts of the country, since they do now have freedom of movement.

The impact of Russian troops in Kherson during the February 24 invasion is on the Ukrainian military operations in the Annexed Kherson region: CNN analysis of the Khovka dam

Satellite images from Maxar Technologies obtained by CNN on Friday showed water flowing out of three sluice gates at the dam, where a major hydroelectric project is situated.

On Sunday, Leontie, the official in Nova Kakhovka who is Russian, claimed on Russian state television that the power plant had been damaged by shelling from the Ukrainian army, which will take at least a year to repair.

Pro-Russian officials in the annexed Kherson region claim that the evacuation of civilians and the retreat of Russian troops from the west bank to the east bank of Dnipro River is due to the threat of flooding that could occur if the Ukrainian military hits the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam.

The next step for the Ukrainian military in Kherson is going to be a major urban operation says a CNN military analyst. What you are going to see is a methodical operation to clear buildings of potential booby traps and mines.

The Ukrainians are going to have to move their systems to the east so they can counter any Russian bombardment that is on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.

An operational update from the AFU General Staff states that Russian troops are trying to improve their defensive lines on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.

Their withdrawal east across the Dnipro cedes large swathes of land that Russia has occupied since the early days of the war, and that Putin had formally declared as Russian territory just five weeks ago.

The retreat is a big blow to Putin’s war effort. Kherson was the only Ukrainian regional capital that Russian forces had captured since February’s invasion.

The Russian army was still attacking in the areas of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlikvka, according to the Ukrainian military. The AFU said that other areas are also being hit.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the forest close to Luba’s flat—about 25 kilometers to the west of Kyiv—became first a stronghold and then a graveyard for Russian armor. The area that was taken back by Ukrainian forces was littered with the remains of the Russian occupation. Soldiers had rudimentary camps dug before fleeing, and left behind equipment and bottles of alcohol that were stolen from nearby gas stations. The Ukrainian troops didn’t see a grenade, a fixed to a tripwire, that was left behind for someone to find.

That victim was 66-year-old Luba, when she and her husband were foraging for mushrooms. The explosion ripped her calves and feet and cut a large gash across her stomach. They had no safe way to quickly reach her without triggering another device. Luba died on the way to hospital.

The Mining Impact on the Morphology, Safety, and Moral Standards of Ukraine: A Human Rights Watch Analysis of Russian Mines and Unexploded Ordnance

Up to 30 percent ofUkraine, an area about twice the size of Austria, has been contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance. Most of the devices left in the field are designed to hurt people. Russia isn’t a signatory to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty that prohibits antipersonnel mines, and Human Rights Watch has confirmed that seven such types are being used by Russia, including POM-2 and POM-3 mines that are indiscriminately dropped by aircraft or fired from specialized ground launchers. They are not buried but scattered, with no reliable way to remotely track or disarm them. When disturbed by footsteps, the POM-3 has a seismic sensor that sends a signal to the mine. Once tripped, the mine jettisons an explosive payload to roughly head-height that then detonates, expelling shrapnel that is lethal out to around 15 meters.

The grenade that killed Luba was rigged with duct tape and tripwires, like the hand-grenade mines that are at the other end of the spectrum. These traps are useless, they only serve to terrify the civilian population and make them doubt their decisions ahead of time as the country is slowly destroyed. “In places that were liberated in the springtime, like Bucha, you see that essential [mindset of]: ‘Let’s kill civilians with booby traps,’” Hiznay says. “It’s salting the earth; it’s targeting people.”

Despite the risk, Ukrainians will come back to the areas that have been contaminated. Ruth Bottomley, a consultant and researcher with 20 years of experience working in areas contaminated by mines, says people have an attachment to where they come from. Even if there is a threat, people want to get back to what they are used to.

Steve goose, the director of Human Rights watch’s arms division, told NPR that Russia has used these weapons more frequently than Ukraine in a lot of different parts of the country. The revelations have compromisedUkraine’s moral high ground.

The report cites Ukrainian medical workers who said they had to amputate limbs from almost as many as 50 people, including five children, as a result of mine injuries. The Emergency Services were unable to get in touch with NPR.

The report says the mines consistently fell near known Russian positions, suggesting they were the intended targets. The positions could have been used to deliver the mines on a number of occasions.

Petal mines are often green or brown and blend in with the earth. They’re generally small and able to be launched from a distance. They flutter from the sky and can explode at the slightest touch. They are also made the same material as the hollow plastic play toys, which are ubiquitous in North America.

HALO Trust Demining Task Force Director Mairi Cunningham says the war in Ukraine is a challenge for the armed forces

In the past, Ukraine and some of its allies have suggested backing out of the Mine Ban Treaty, citing the weapons as an important tool to keep Russian forces at bay.

“Insofar as they are able to under the circumstances of this brutal war, Ukrainian troops are maintaining their commitment to international law,” Zhdanov says.

The first time Oleksandr got to go back to his farm after being occupied by Russian forces, he cried when he saw what had been left.

His farm buildings were almost completely destroyed, millions of dollars worth of heavy machinery had been left in ruins, and the wheat harvest last year had been incinerated.

He says he has removed around 20 mines from his fields using only a metal detector.

As well as ensuring the safety of the people, agricultural land is being made a priority to “ensure that Ukraine can get back on its feet,” Cunningham said.

The Russian invasion has already strangled grain exports from Ukraine – one of the world’s great breadbaskets – and contributed to soaring prices of staple products like bread and cereals, even with a United Nations-brokered deal which has enabled the passage of Ukrainian ships through the Black Sea.

In recent months, several farm workers have been hurt or killed working in their fields, including a 65-year-old man who died instantly when he stepped on explosives near the village of Chervone in southern Ukraine, according to local officials.

The HALO Trust wants to double the number of staff in Ukranian by the end of the year.

Mairi Cunningham, who runs the HALO Trust demining task force in Ukraine, told CNN there was a large amount of contamination.

The “greatest challenge” is the lack of pattern, Cunningham said, with different types and density of munitions spread across the vast geographical area of Ukraine – Europe’s second-biggest country after Russia.

“We’re seeing anti-vehicle mines, both metal and plastic. We’re seeing anti-personnel mines,” Cunningham said. “We’re seeing anti-personnel binding and fragmentation mines on tripwires, grenades on tripwires and we’re also seeing cluster munitions.”

The dangers of lifting anti-tank mines in the presence of enemy fires and turbulence, according to Cunningham

He said that there was no point in having a single approach to the demining effort because it would take away from the training of staff.

The operations cannot be carried out away from the war fronts to protect the safety of the soldiers, because of an active conflict.

Cunningham said that lifting anti-tank mines is very dangerous. “There’s often anti-lift devices designed specifically to kill and injure people who try to do that.’