Variation #22
By KS Lack
Print: Variated Proof 4/5
Frame: tripwire, maimed frame
Ukraine is currently one of the most heavily mine-contaminated countries in world. One-third of Ukraine (11 out of 27 regions) have been impacted, a land mass roughly the size of Florida. These mines affect both front lines and territories reclaimed from Russian forces. The Halo trust, a nonprofit organization that works to clear mines globally, estimates that up to 2 million landmines may have been laid in Ukraine since February 2022. These range from large anti-vehicle mines designed to blow up tanks, to smaller anti-personal mines meant to cause catastrophic injury to a person when triggered. There have also been widespread instances of improvised booby traps left behind by retreating Russian soldiers.
The mines and traps have caused immense harm to Ukrainian citizens. Nowhere is safe—mines and booby traps have been left in agricultural fields, along roads, and even inside peoples homes. Nearly 1,000 landmine have been civilians, mostly people attempting to return to their farms.(A)
Mines also injure and maim soldiers. While it is difficult to determine exactly how many amputees in Ukraine are directly the result of landmines from mines, the numbers are staggering: close to 50,000 Ukrainians have required limbs amputations, the majority of them soldiers.(B) Trauma on this scale has not been seen in Europe since World War I.
It will take decades to clear the land of these deadly devices. Fields strewn with mines cannot be used to grow food. People will never feel safe if they fear the ground beneath them may explode at any moment. Russia gains nothing by inflicting such damage—the land is as unusable to them as it is to Ukrainians. It is yet another sign that Russia is not fighting a war for territory or liberation, but one of desolation and destruction.
A) For more on living in active war zones, see Variation #26.
B) For more on Ukrainian soldiers, see Variation #16.
See below for further reading and background.
UN relief chief: Demining Ukraine is a humanitarian priority, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 22 Feb 24.
There are now more land mines in Ukraine than almost anywhere else on the planet, Vox, 30 Nov 23.
Halo Ukraine operations, The Halo Trust, Updated as of February 2024.
Two years after the Russian invasion, landmines plague one-third of Ukraine, NBC News, 20 Feb 24.
How Blesma is helping Ukraine’s limbless veterans, Blesma, 15 Mar 24.