Ukraine’s landmine crisis – CBS News [Video]

Ukraine has a landmine crisis. 

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began two years ago, Ukraine has become one of the most mined countries in the world. Landmines have been documented in 11 of Ukraine’s 27 regions, and these hidden weapons are crippling the country’s agricultural economy and maiming — even killing — its civilians.

“The levels of contamination are quite extraordinary in terms of what we’ve seen,” said Pete Smith, the Ukraine program manager for the HALO Trust, a nonprofit organization focused on ridding warzones of landmines. He estimates the number of mines in Ukraine at the moment to be in the millions. 

Since 2022, landmines and explosive remnants of war have contributed to more than 1,000 civilian casualties in Ukraine, both injuries and fatalities, according to Smith and Ukrainian authorities. Many occur in farmland and fields, and they are largely caused by anti-vehicle mines, which are intended to …