Hanna Plishchynskaa retiree, must resort to a metal detector to scour your fields for mines and war debris in the ruins of his southwestern town Ukraineto be able to graze his cow and plant vegetables.
the woman of 67 years returned home several weeks ago Dolyna Stepovaa rural community of 150 inhabitants in the region of Mykolaiv which last year, in the context of the Russian invasion, was emptied during months of fighting.
The town, located on the border with the region of Khersonfound itself in the front line of battle and came under heavy bombardment from both sides. Plishchynska he wanted to resist, but ended up running away with his cow, his chickens and his ducks. The area is in ruins, although the fighting subsided after the forces of Ukraine will reconquer the city of Kherson in November.
She returned to find her house still standing, albeit with its windows smashed, and began scanning the area with a metal detector for mines and other hazards.
The woman’s explanation
“And if my cow were to die from an explosion, what would I do? If it wasn’t for the cow, I wouldn’t do it. Everyone laughs when I go to the garden to check. But the pastures there are killing the cows.”he commented.
Jens Laerkespokesman for the Humanitarian Office of the UNhe declared at a briefing in Geneva that every month there are dozens of mine-related accidents in the regions of Mykolaiv and Khersonas well as in Kharkiv, in the northeast. “Mine contamination is also a threat to farmers trying to return to their farms and aid workers helping,” she said.
As soon as the metal detector goes off, Plishchynska take a stick, mark the area and call the police. “Once (the police) came and took I don’t know what, some piece with wings. And the little pieces, the fragments I pick up. I see that they are only fragments, little pieces of shattered explosives,” he explains. “I can handle the ones that exploded, I put them away, let them stay there, they don’t bother me”he concluded.
Source: Ambito
