Unexploded bombs, shells, and mines not only threaten human life in Ukraine but also risk rendering swaths of fertile farmland unusable for years, the Red Cross said on May 16. Remnants of the war that has been raging since Russia's invasion in February 2022, as well as the drawn-out conflict that began in 2014 with Russia's annexation of Crimea, have left Ukraine among the most mine-littered countries in the world. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned that mines and unexploded shells in the Ukrainian countryside could have serious long-term implications for agriculture, a vital part of the country's economy.
Mines Could Ruin Ukraine Farmland For Years, Red Cross Says
Horses pass a crater left by a missile on an abandoned horse farm in Avdiyivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.