Ukraine: Over 200,000 hectares of agricultural land put back into use since beginning of the year

Ukraine’s and non-governmental operators’ bomb disposal units have inspected and brought back into use over 200,000 hectares of agricultural land since the beginning of the year. “Our bomb disposal experts from Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, State Transport Special Service and Read More …

Cambodia: Anti-tank mine blast severely injures farmer in Battambang

An anti-tank mine exploded while a farmer was ploughing in Battambang province on Friday. The blast caused severe injuries to him and destroyed his tractor. The victim, Phon Phet, 28, was clearing the land for a cassava plantation when the Read More …

Yemen’s explosives contamination ‘among world’s worst’

Yemen has one of the world’s highest rates of contamination with landmines and other deadly explosives, the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned, nine years after the start of the brutal civil war. The impoverished Arab nation, plunged Read More …

US to arm Kyiv with depleted uranium tank shells

The US has announced it will send controversial weapons to Ukraine as part of more than $1bn (£800m) in military and humanitarian aid. Russia condemned the move to equip US Abrams tanks with shells strong enough to pierce conventional tank Read More …

Clearing landmines from Ukraine will be a huge task, but it can be done

Ukraine is now the most mined country on Earth, surpassing even Syria and Afghanistan, according to a report called Walking on Fire: Demining in Ukraine, issued last month by Globsec, a think tank in Slovakia. The Ukrainian government has been Read More …

‘Iron harvest:’ A Belgian team unearths unexploded ammunition from WWI

In a muddy field in Flanders, in northern Belgium, there are signs of a recent harvest along its edge — raw potatoes here and there. But toward the back of the field, members of DOVO, the Belgian military’s bomb disposal Read More …

Ukraine: Agencies join forces with deminers to reclaim agricultural land

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have designed a new joint programme for smallholder farmers and rural families most affected by the conflict. The goal is to clear farmland impacted by the fighting of Read More …

Afghanistan: Unexploded ordnance still threaten lives of Wardak residents

Residents of central Maidan Wardak province say landmines and other unexploded ordnance still threaten the lives of people, especially children. Rahim Jan, a resident of Lalandar village in Daimardad district, told Pajhwok that many agricultural land and roads remained littered Read More …

The Radioactive Legacy of Depleted Uranium Ammunition Comes to Ukraine

The United Kingdom is sending Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine equipped with armor piercing depleted uranium rounds. Countries like the U.S., U.K., and Russia manufacture ammunition using depleted uranium because the metal is heavy and dense, making it ideal to Read More …

Ukraine has a plan for mine clearance for sowing

An action plan for mine clearance of agricultural land for the sowing campaign was approved on Monday, 20 March, following the results of the meeting of the National Mine Action Authority. Thus, the simplified procedure for obtaining a permit for Read More …

Ukraine: Combine harvester blown up on enemy mine in Kryvyi Rih district

In the Kryvyi Rih district, a combine harvester was blown up after it ran over an enemy mine. The driver is alive. Yevhen Sytnychenko, the head of the Kryvyi Rih District Military Administration, said this in a Telegram post, Ukrinform Read More …

Oregon military vet helps Ukrainian farmers remove land mines

“This is like a game of cat and explosive mouse.” A reality of the war in Ukraine: land mines are everywhere and removing them is a slow, dangerous, but necessary process. But that doesn’t phase retired U.S. Army Green Beret, Read More …

In Iraq, the Bitter Legacy of War Still Lies Hidden Underground

Like the neck of a giraffe, a minesweeping vehicle extends a serrated bucket forward and dips its teeth into the blighted earth. It drags the dry soil backward, sifting, before harvesting a jerrycan and gently placing it on the edge Read More …

‘Everything Living Is Dying’: Environmental Ruin in Modern Iraq

As far back as 2005, the United Nations had estimated that Iraq was already littered with several thousand contaminated sites. Five years later, an investigation by The Times, a London-based newspaper, suggested that the U.S. military had generated some 11 Read More …

UN: Landmines Still Pose a Threat to Two Million Ukrainians

Around 2 million people – roughly the population of Slovenia – are exposed to the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in eastern Ukraine on both sides of the “contact line”. Ukraine ranks fifth in the world Read More …