14-05-2025
Mine clearers take on Ukraine's hidden enemy
When Ihor Knyazev returned to his home village of Dovhenke in Ukraine's Kharkiv region after its liberation from Russian forces, there was not a single building left intact. The surrounding fields were strewn with mines, and exploded military ordnance littered the land, some of Europe's most fertile.
Yet Ihor, a farmer whose family has lived in Dovhenke for generations, immediately set about rebuilding his life. 'I bought a metal detector, taught myself how to clear minefields and began de-mining,' he said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world. 'I've removed hundreds so far.'
He also began building a new house to replace the one that had been destroyed during the fierce fighting, turning the discarded debris of warfare into construction materials.
His
