Russia-Ukraine war: Minesweepers clear way for citizens to return home

The dusty grenades on the roadside kerb were exactly the kind of thing a child could pick up, detonate accidentally and be killed in an instance.

It would further play into Vladimir Putin's desire to cause as much collateral damage to the Ukrainian population as possible during this invasion.

And it was why the elderly men who approached the authorities on Tuesday spoke with such urgency.

"We've seen a number of grenades today," they said, smoking as they walked on. "Please check. They are near the lake and the cemetery."

The Telegraph saw the team find four grenades: the one that had detonated lay on the kerb underneath a tree; the others pushed to the side of the road that could easily enough be trodden on.

A short while later at another location, the team found a mine and two shells in the space of 15 minutes, showing the prolific scale of the munitions left behind by the Russians.

Since the Ukrainians liberated the Kyiv region, a massive de-mining operation has been under way to make the areas safe for citizens. Currently, they have been ordered not to return because it is so dangerous as a result of the deliberate mining and booby traps left by the Russians.

A rocket is buried in the ground in Bucha, Ukraine, just some of the many munitions now being cleared by Ukrainians. Photo / AP

Throughout Ukraine, signs made out of scrap bits of driftwood and spray paint warn people to be careful of mines.

The signs are particularly focused near forests and along residential areas where the Russians took over.

Since 2014, Andrii – who for security reasons would not give his last name – a de-mining expert from the Pyrotechnic Department of State Emergency Services of Ukraine, had been based in Luhansk in the east of Ukraine.

Now because of the invasion, he is working in the Kyiv region.

"We haven't had peace since 2014, so we were de-mining in the east of the region. Now we have had to come here because the war has moved on," he said.

Andrii added that the mine and explosives situation in the Kyiv region currently was "almost the same as in Luhansk in 2014", with thousands of ammunition – both exploded and unexploded – and a significant quantity of mines found since the liberation.

According to a report by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which looked at the impact of mines and explosives on civilians' lives in Donetsk and Luhansk, about 15,000sq km of land in the regions has been contaminated with mines and other explosive objects.

It noted that in the period between January 1, 2018, and October 31, 2019, there were 380 civilian casualties from mines, unexploded ordnance and other explosives. Of those casualties, nearly 25 per cent were children, many of whom had been killed or injured from explosive objects found in gardens or fields where they play.

Serhii Komornyi, the deputy of the Hostomel village council, has warned residents not to return to the village, "especially with children, because it is so dangerous".

He also warned that a mine caused a civilian car to explode on Monday as it drove along the road to Irpin. Clearance work has ended in Irpin, although private land will still need to be searched.

An Ukrainian soldier on a road where a missile penetrated into the ground in Irpin, Ukraine, this month. Photo / Getty Images

"There are many positions that have been found where there is used and unused ammunition," he added, as he stressed the amount of damage and the fact there were "too many mines" the Russians had left in their wake.

Oleg Bondar, a representative of the State Emergency Service (SES), warned about half of Ukraine's territory needs landmine clearance. He said roughly 300,000sq km of land now requires humanitarian de-mining efforts as a result of the invasion.

He said a large amount of explosives still lay in areas taken back from Russian soldiers and de-mining efforts were so far concentrated near Kyiv and other northern areas of the country.

Despite Russian shelling in Kharkiv and Mykolaiv, checks are also ongoing in these regions. On Monday, security forces cordoned off an area in the east of Kharkiv in order to clear a number of small devices scattered across residential streets.

Lieutenant Colonel Nikolay Ovcharuk, the head of the de-mining unit of the SES, said the devices were plastic PTM-1M mines, which detonate using timers and which were widely used by Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

Fragments of Russian rockets near Makariv, close to Kyiv. Besides clearing missile debris, experts warn about half of Ukraine's territory needs landmine clearance. Photo / AP

According to Human Rights Watch, Russian forces had deployed an advanced landmine called the Pom-3, which is equipped with sensors that can detect when people walk nearby. This is in contrast to typical types of landmines which explode when victims accidentally step on them or disturb attached tripwires.

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In Hostomel, which was occupied by the Russians from the first day of the invasion until it was liberated on April 2, the de-mining team work their way through an endless list of addresses for various buildings and streets that are thought to have been mined.

Each morning the teams, armed with metal detectors, shovels and rope, head out from 7.30am until 5.30pm to comb the region for unexploded mines, grenades and ammunition.

It is a complex and hazardous task that requires great diligence and the de-mining engineers are militant about the vicinity being cleared before any device is collected, with one sapper warning that a grenade has the capacity to splinter up to 200m.

In nearby Andrivka, de-mining teams were collecting anti-tank missiles that had been left outside the homes of villages when they were forced out by Ukrainian soldiers. Some were resting.

From just one back garden alone, they collected 26 missiles which they carefully loaded onto a truck to drive to a safe place to expertly detonate.

Serhiy Kruk, the head of the SES, recently said that "in co-operation with the Armed Forces and the National Police of Ukraine, we are actively working and doing everything to return people and restore livelihoods".

He explained the work undergone in Kyiv would act as a model for when de-mining takes place in other areas of the country.