¡°My children are my motivation. They live in a country that is currently unsafe due to landmines. My goal is to ensure that every inch of our land is free from these threats,¡± said Oleksandra Levdokimova, who leads a demining group for The Halo Trust, a non-governmental organization, in Ukraine.
Since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, there has been an industrial use of landmines in the country along with bombs, artillery shells and other deadly by-products of war. The levels of contamination have not been seen in Europe since the Second World War.
Building capacity is key. With the 3,500 demining engineers in Ukraine, it will take more than 20 years to clear the agricultural land alone. Oleksandra Levdokimova was a logistician with no prior experience before she began working in demining one and half years ago.
¡°Stepping onto a real minefield after training made me realize my capability to do something. There are moments when my team come across explosive devices, mark and hand them over to the State Emergency Services. I realize ¡®Yes, cool, we did it¡¯,¡± she says.
The impact goes far beyond Ukraine. The government estimates that before the war, the land that¡¯s now contaminated provided food for 81 million people, mostly in middle- and lower-income countries.
To mark the International Mine Awareness Day, the??in Kyiv called??by photographer Giles Duley, the?United Nations Global Advocate for people with disabilities in conflict and peacebuilding situations.
Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDP has provided the State Emergency Services with computers and staff to support land release using satellite imagery and artificial intelligence, along with equipping 200 of their teams with personal protective gear, vehicles, demining tools, communication equipment, and technical devices.
