At least a hundred people have died in the region liberated by booby traps, most of them farmers and hikers
When is a war over? Officially, this happens when the leaders of the countries in question sign a peace treaty and shake hands. At least that’s how it usually appears in history books. But there are those who insist that warfare will end when the consequences subside: when refugees can return to their homes, destroyed infrastructure is repaired, civilians bury their dead peacefully, and investigative committees determine the responsibility of the actors.
No one knows for sure when the war in Ukraine will end. In recent days, the rumor of a possible negotiation promoted from the West has gained momentum. Whenever the Ukrainians and Russians decide to sit down and talk about whether one of the sides is completely defeated militarily – something unlikely – the effects of the conflict will be prolonged. At least five years.
It is the time that Ukraine expects to need to demine the country and therefore the time that citizens will have to wait to enter their country without fear. This is the latest estimate of the experts who advise the government of Volodímir Zelensky. That is what the deputy minister of the interior, Marie Hakobyan, said on Wednesday. “The main efforts of the pyrotechnic units are focused on critical infrastructure facilities, demining water, gas, heat and electricity networks with the aim of their recovery in the regions of Kherson, Kharkov, Bogodukhiv, Izium and Chuguyiv,” he noted. And he gave a fact. So far, employees of the National Emergency Service have neutralized 180,205 explosive objects.
Efforts are mainly concentrated in recently liberated Kherson. It is estimated that there are at least 5,000 mines in the liberated areas, with another 2,500 mines that have already been disabled. Although Hakobyan warned that “200,000 square kilometers of unoccupied lands are not yet under the control of our armed forces.” “Some areas were deliberately mined during the withdrawal of Russian troops. There are also remnants of explosive objects in the combat zones,” he said.
The task before us is enormous. To this end, twenty-five units of the National Emergency Service are active in the area, as well as pyrotechnic teams from the National Police and the National Guard. The Mykolaiv-Kherson highway, railway stations and fifty kilometers of track have already been cleared. A total of seventeen hectares of land was examined.
In any case, Kiev is walking on lead feet. 90% of demining work is done by human forces because there is not enough equipment and robotics to speed up the work and save human lives. “At least 30 specialists have been killed” in mine clearance duties and “about 100 people have been killed by booby traps,” the interior ministry said in a statement. Most of them were farmers working in the fields and walkers who stepped on a fatal artifact.
Besides the mines, there is another horrifying discovery that the Ukrainian troops make while passing through the liberated areas: the torture chambers. In Kherson, where the Russian occupation lasted eight months, four have already been discovered.
These terror chambers were located in basements and buildings. The soldiers enter it thanks to the directions of the neighbors. The executioners acted for various reasons: to obtain information about the Ukrainian military positions, to press collaborators or for pure pleasure. The testimonies that surface today reveal medieval punishments: broken bones, suffocation or summary executions.
Source: La Verdad
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