It Could Take 757 Years To Demine Ukraine

The leader of a clearance team explains the operation as the Ukrainian army's 35th Marine Brigade members conduct mine clearance work at a field in Donetsk, Ukraine on July 11, 2023. Ercin Erturk/Anadolu Agency

Insider: An area of Ukraine approximately the size of Florida is now riddled with land mines, which could take hundreds of years to reverse: report

* Ukrainian troops face a perilous challenge in their continued fight against Russia — land mines.

* The mines have blighted an area of Ukraine roughly the size of Florida, per The Washington Post.

* Humanitarian clearance work, which is intricate and expensive, can take a long time to complete.

More than a year and half after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, land mines have become one of the most daunting issues for the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

With Russian forces having laid down mines across broad areas of Ukraine, it is now the most mined country in the world, and the mines — in addition to unexploded bombs and artillery shells — are now prevalent in an area of Ukraine roughly the size of Florida, according to The Washington Post.

The drastic changes to the Ukrainian heartland not only threaten the country long-term, but they continue to present enormous challenges for troops seeking strategic advantages against Moscow, having had earlier successes against Russian forces before the mines began to slow down Ukraine's counteroffensive.

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WNU Editor: My mother's home town is Vyazma/Wyazma 80km west of Moscow. The family still owns the home and land that my mother grew up in. During the Second World War the Germans heavily mined the region to stop the advancing Soviet armies. Even though everything is now suppose to be "clean", when I visit I am always nervous on what may still lurk in the ground in the open fields. Bombs and mines are always being discovered in and around the city.

That is why I am distressed to see what is happening in Ukraine. The destruction is terrible, but I know personally what the legacy of mines can do to a region and its people. And in the case of Ukraine, these fields are going to be dangerous for a very very long time. I give it 150 years, not 757 years.

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