Latest news with #landmines
Washington Post
4 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Kari Lake won awards for overseas reporting. Now she has the job of cutting it.
In 2007, long before she was a rising star in the Republican Party, Kari Lake flew to Cambodia. This wasn't a typical assignment for a television anchor in Phoenix, but she had a local angle. Cindy McCain, the wife of then-Sen. John McCain and a first lady aspirant, was traveling to the Southeast Asian country to raise awareness for land mine removal efforts.
Bloomberg
7 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
Finland Starts Process to Withdraw From Landmine Ban Treaty
Finland started the process of withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, which bans anti-personnel landmines. The government on Wednesday submitted a proposal to the parliament on the exit, according to a statement. A political decision on the step was taken in April to address the risks from a more aggressive Russia.
CNA
24-05-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Gaia Series 87: Nippon Technology
Japanese engineer and humanitarian Kiyoshi Amemiya's legacy of landmine-clearing technology gains new purpose in war-torn Ukraine. At the foot of Mount Fuji in Minami-Alps City, Yamanashi Prefecture, a quiet revolution in humanitarian engineering is unfolding. The latest episode of Japan Hour follows the compelling story of Mr Kiyoshi Amemiya, a 75-year-old Japanese entrepreneur whose life's work has become a beacon of hope amid the devastation of Ukraine's ongoing war. Mr Amemiya, chairman of construction equipment manufacturer Nikken, is no ordinary businessman. Almost three decades ago, a trip to post-war Cambodia altered the course of his career. There, an elderly man who had lost a leg to a landmine took his hand and said, 'Please help the people of Cambodia.' That encounter sparked Mr Amemiya's enduring mission: To develop machinery that could safely and efficiently clear landmines. These so-called 'demonic weapons' continue to claim lives long after conflicts end. Using the foundation of construction equipment, Mr Amemiya pioneered a rotary cutter machine capable of detonating and destroying mines while shielding operators with reinforced cabins and bulletproof glass. Over the years, his technology has spread to 11 countries including Afghanistan, Vietnam and parts of Africa, with 151 units deployed. Despite the lack of government funding and sustained financial losses, he pressed on and offset costs with profits from his core business. Now, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters its third year, Mr Amemiya's machines are gaining renewed significance. With 140,000 sq km, nearly a quarter of Ukraine's land, contaminated with over two million mines believed to be buried, Ukraine has become one of the most mine-ridden nations in the world. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that 24 demining workers have lost their lives and 98 have been injured since the war began, with 415 civilian deaths and 982 injuries. In response to a direct request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2023, the Japanese government purchased 12 of Nikken's machines to be donated to Ukraine. Modifications were made specifically for the terrain and threats in Ukraine, including more powerful rotary cutters and interchangeable tips capable of handling rubble, wood and even unexploded ordnance. A key part of this humanitarian effort is training. 14 Ukrainian demining personnel were invited to Japan for a two-week intensive course at Nikken's headquarters. Among them were Ms Iryna Komyshan, 25, the second-highest-ranking member of the group, and Mr Petrenko Vladislav, 24, a heavy machinery operator and fan of anime. Ms Iryna, who had never operated heavy machinery before, quickly adapted. 'What we learn from this training is extremely important for Ukraine's future,' she said. Training focused not only on machine operation but also on maintenance, a crucial skill given the absence of on-site technical support in Ukraine. Demonstrations included how the machines withstood 7kg anti-tank blasts. Mr Amemiya assured the team, 'Amongst all the machines we've shipped around the world, never once has a rotary cutter been broken, nor has a cabin been destroyed, nor has an operator been injured.' After their time in Japan, the team headed to Cambodia, where Nikken's machines are used extensively. The transition was symbolic. It was a journey from the ruins of Cambodia's past to the present danger in Ukraine. At a restricted demining site near Siem Reap, they underwent a month of practical training under the guidance of the Cambodian Landmine Action Centre, which operates 54 of Nikken's units. A test exercise using a dummy mine showed just how high the stakes are. Mr Petrenko, who operated the machine, failed to destroy the mine completely. He accepted the result with humility, saying, 'Yes. I'll do better next time.' Back in Ukraine, after a sombre official handing over ceremony in Kyiv, the machines were deployed across the country. Along the border with Russia, in Kharkiv Oblast, Ms Iryna teaches locals how to operate and maintain the machines. 'By teaching machine operation and maintenance, we can provide new jobs and responsibilities to people who lost their livelihoods in the war. That's an important part of my mission,' she said. Not all trainees returned to the front lines. Mr Petrenko, citing harsh working conditions and the threat of conscription, emailed from abroad. 'I went to Germany and was accepted into a refugee camp.' While the move violates Ukrainian regulations, Mr Amemiya responded with compassion. 'There's no point in blaming him. Or blaming Russia, or Ukraine. It's the war that's to blame.' Despite his age, Mr Amemiya continues to build his life-saving machines with quiet resolve. 'I want to build machines, new ones, and in doing so, help create places where people can live in peace,' he said. 'The technology I created can help save lives. It has become kind of a beautiful ideal for me. Perhaps it's my life's purpose.' And he's doing it one machine, one training session, one cleared path at a time.
The Independent
17-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
‘This is what death feels like': The terrifying reality of Ukraine's landmine crisis
Dmytro Guzha was returning home with his wife Elena when he felt the explosion beneath his feet – and then nothing. 'After that, I didn't hear or see anything at all,' the 49-year-old says. He regained consciousness a few minutes later and his focus turned to Elena. 'I was really worried about my wife because I saw her and she didn't move. Then I wanted to try to get closer to her but I couldn't because my leg didn't move.' That was the result of the explosion that had ripped through his lower half. The Ukrainian city of Chuhuiv, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, faced heavy Russian bombardment in the opening weeks of Vladimir Putin 's invasion of Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022. Guzha could see and hear explosions in the air as he and Elena took their ill-fated trip to the bakery. After the couple, married more than 20 years, had picked up some bread, they started walking the familiar route home. Then Guzha's life changed forever. Ukraine is the most mine-contaminated country in the world, with an estimated 23 per cent of its land littered with explosive devices. According to the country's National Mine Action Authority, an estimated 340 civilians have been killed by exploding landmines since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022, with another 1,195 people injured by. Earlier this month, mine clearance specialist Chris Garrett died after being critically injured during an incident near Izyum, east Ukraine, after clearing mines in Ukraine for 10 years – having started in 2014 when the conflict in Ukraine's east between government forces and Russian-backed separatists began. 'Weeks of nightmare' After the blast, Guzha tried to call an ambulance, but he couldn't see anything. His wife managed to make the call, despite heavy injuries to her hip. An ambulance arrived quickly and took them to Chuhuiv hospital. From the moment they arrived at the city's hospital, the couple experienced 'three weeks of nightmare' due to constant bombardment. Guzha was told by the doctor that his leg might have to be amputated, and he pleaded for them to try and save it. 'Just try to do something', he asked the doctor. 'Because you can always cut it off, it's the easiest thing to do, but try to do something.' For three weeks, they stayed in the hospital 'without doctors, without any supply, without electricity, without water because of constant bombardment'. It was a daily struggle for doctors to even travel to the hospital to treat people without getting injured themselves. They realised that they had to get out of the hospital and the city or they risked being trapped there. But the road out of Chuhuiv hospital was under such heavy daily bombardment that people who had been killed on the highway only had their corpses removed from their cars six months later. 'A miracle escape' Guzha and his wife managed to evacuate on 7 April in what he describes as a 'miracle'. It was the only day there was no bombardment. In fact, he describes it as a 'quite sunny, quite bright and beautiful day'. The couple were taken to Kremenchuk hospital, where doctors were able to save Guzha's leg. For the first seven months, they replaced 20 centimetres of his leg with a metal plate. 'Every time I make a step or I'm trying to make a step, it sounds like there's some gravel in the washing machine,' he jokes. After he was treated, he was told it would take him a year to walk again. Two and a half years on from his injuries, he and his wife now live in Kremenchuk and spend 'pretty much all the time we have' in hospital. Not only do they continue to recover from their physical injuries, but their psychological ones as well. Guzha has nightmares every day about what he went through. He reflects on his time in Chuhuiv hospital, where, after all his injuries, he 'couldn't sleep for the first 10 days at all, then the next year after that, I had nightmares every single night'. 'I lost sight on the spot' Guzha isn't the only person who suffers nightmares because of a landmine attack. After surviving a landmine attack in 2019, Dmytro Slepkan, 30, would see his dead colleague in his dreams. The former commander for the State Emergency Service's pyrotechnics unit was left permanently blind by a landmine his squad had tried to de-mine in the Donetsk region. 'I lost sight on the spot,' he says. 'All I saw was some red and black emptiness. I felt like I was falling down into some hole. 'I thought this is what death felt like.' Slepkan struggled to readjust to the world following his injury, and was left in a state of 'despair' as he struggled to get a job. He now works for the Association of Minesweepers of Ukraine as a mine victim assistant. His previous experience means he intimately understands how a person who has been through a mining injury might feel. Last year, Slepkan became a father to a baby boy, Henadii. While he and his wife Daria live in the 'relatively safe city' of Poltava, he continues to worry for his family's safety. 'That's the biggest pain in my soul', he says, 'because at my work I get to see a lot of cases where babies and children are getting injured.' More than 138,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory still needs to be surveyed for landmines, covering an area of land the size of Portugal, according to fundraising platform UNITED 24. The organisation is in the process of raising £1.12m to help de-mine sites across the regions of Kherson, Kyiv and Kharkiv, including schools, hospitals, forests and playgrounds. Slepkan is determined that no one else should have to go through what he has experienced. 'Our activity is not just a simple activity, it's the mission to make Ukraine safe, and sooner or later we're going to do it,' he says. 'I want none of the kids in the world to ever know what an air raid is, what war is, what explosions are.'
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Australian former soldier killed by explosive device in Ukraine while working for aid organisation
An Australian aid worker who helped clear landmines in Ukraine has been killed in the war-ravaged country. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the death of the man, a former Australian soldier, following media reports the charity worker died after an an improved explosive device went off in a building. "I can confirm he wasn't a participant in the conflict, he was volunteering with a humanitarian organisation,' Mr Albanese said, adding the government was providing support for the man's family, but did not provide any specifics. "Out of respect for the family's privacy and consistent with our obligations, there is a limit to what we can say publicly at this time.' The fatal incident occurred in the Ukrainian city of Izyum, according to a report by the ABC, which cited an unidentified military source in Ukraine. The public broadcaster said the details of the death were yet to be formally verified. The ABC reported the Australian man was working for the US-based Prevail Together. The charity, which supports Ukrainian government agencies with landmine clearance, trauma medical care and humanitarian assistance, said in a statement that some team members were severely injured in an incident on May 6. "We are still gathering information and working alongside military and police officials to uncover the details," the organisation said.
