The fearless women risking it all to rid Ukraine of Russia’s landmines: The Mail meets brave volunteers combing for explosives in the world’s largest minefield

Dressed in an armoured vest and explosive-proof helmet Nika, 39, looks almost unrecognisable from her carefree pre-war self.

Before February 2022 Nika was an adventurous nomad who worked an envious job as a diving instructor in Egypt’s crystal clear waters.

But now, she spends her days working tirelessly for the British-based NGO, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) – risking her life to painstakingly clear her homeland of unexploded cluster munitions, landmines, and bombs.

As more and more men are conscripted and sent to the front, women like Nika are stepping up and volunteering to put their lives on the line and do their bit for the nation.

Nika, who manages a team of nine Ukrainian de-miners, has vowed to spend the rest of her life working for MAG, meticulously combing through farmland looking for bombs in the hopes of making her country safe once again.

Speaking to the Mail, in the middle of an active minefield less than 30 kilometres from the frontline she said: ‘I am prepared to devote the rest of my life to this work.

‘It is in my blood as a Ukrainian to want to do something to contribute to the vital war effort. With this work I know I am saving lives and doing something good by helping people get back to their fields.’

As a result of Russia’s ongoing war – Ukraine is now believed to be the largest minefield in the world, with as many as 2 million devices thought to be scattered around the country.

We meet Daryna and her dog in a demining training centre in Mykolaiv alongside 17 other mine detection dogs and eight other all-female handlers

Mines Advisory Group (MAG) Team Leader Nika Kokareva (left) and her mine clearing colleague Antaninya pictured in farmland South of Mykolaiv in Eastern Ukraine, where they are tasked with searching and identifying unexploded ordinance and landmines

A Mines Advisory Group (MAG) team leave farmland South of Mykolaiv in Eastern Ukraine, where they are tasked with searching and identifying unexploded ordinance and landmines

Most of these weapons have been set up by invading Russian soldiers – who plant barely-visible tripwires and boobytraps in farmland: hidden under debris or buried in the dirt.

MAG – which has its headquarters in Manchester and operates in 35 countries – began its humanitarian work in Ukraine in August 2022.

They have estimated it will take around six months just to clear the field Nika and her team are currently working on, which is around 46,000 square metres (about six and a half football pitches).

But their efforts are essential.

An estimated 257 Ukrainian civilians – 15 of them children – are thought to have been killed by unexploded munitions since Russia’s full scale invasion began.

Hundreds more have been injured including Lidia Borova, a 70-year-old widow and keen gardener.

On July 24 2023, she was out mushroom foraging in a forest near her home in Izium, 20 miles from the eastern frontline.

Locals had marked some of the dangerous areas in the forest with red sticks to warn people about potentially landmines.

But there were no markers nearby when Lidia accidentally stepped on a ‘butterfly mine’ – named as such because of its tiny size (3-4 inches) and butterfly-like shape. They are illegal under international law.

Lidia’s right foot and ankle were immediately torn from her body by the strength of the explosion and the bucket of mushrooms she had been carrying as well as her phone flew out of her hands.

She crawled several metres along the dirty, leaf-strewn forest floor and managed to grab her phone and call for help.

Thankfully she survived – but her right leg was amputated.

As we stand surrounded by acres of potentially explosive farmland and seemingly endless rolling fields it is hard not to be intimidated by the seemingly insurmountable scale of the task at hand but also the pressing need for urgent action.

In Mykolaiv, the region we are currently in, four people were killed by mines in the first three months of 2024.

But the determined deminers in Nika’s team doggedly comb through every inch of land diligently searching for any sign of danger.

First, they trim the grass with garden scissors, then they run metal detectors over small sections of land, and finally they investigate any positive results with long metal wires which they gently poke into the dirt. If they find a landmine, specialist teams are called in.

Their work takes hours.

A Mines Advisory Group (MAG) team leave farmland South of Mykolaiv in Eastern Ukraine

‘It’s very slow,’ says Nika who has been working with MAG since October 2023, ‘but I know that what we’re doing is very important.

‘We just go day by day and I try not to think about how many years it will take to de-mine Mykolaiv.’

In Ukraine, Russians are planting 13 different types of mines which are designed to maim or kill people – as opposed to tanks – according to a survey by Human Rights Watch.

The often inconspicuous devices can remain dormant for decades until they are triggered by even the most delicate of touches or lightest of steps.

For the almost 500,000 residents of Mykolaiv they will likely have to live with this danger for the rest of their lives.

In local primary and secondary schools near contaminated fields, children are being warned by MAG volunteers where it is safe to play, what mines look like and what to do if you see one in real life.

‘Everyday living in Mykolaiv is a high risk because you never know when a missile is going to strike or where it is going to hit,’ explains Nika.

Ukrainian mine dog handler 23 year old Daryna Hzomychenko, working for Mine Charity Apopo in conjunction with Mines Advisory Group (MAG), pictured with her Malinois dog George, in their training field outside Kyiv

When we arrive, the dogs are already hard at work, dashing through the fields honing their detection techniques

She explains that clean water is absent from Mykolaiv, while electricity is intermittent and they live under ‘constant’ missile strikes. So it is no wonder her hatred for what the Russian army has done ‘never stops’.

‘They’ve destroyed our land and a future for our children.’

But NGOs have a secret weapon up their sleeves which could help speed up the laborious mine sweeping process.

Daryna Hzomychenko, 23, is currently training to be a member of Dutch NGO Apop’s elite all-female mine-sweeping dog squad.

Due to Ukraine’s draconian conscription laws that prohibit all men aged between 18-60 from leaving the country, only women are able to fly to Cambodia to complete Apopo’s training.

We meet Daryna and her dog in a demining training centre in Mykolaiv alongside 17 other mine detection dogs and eight other all-female handlers.

They are hoping to be deployed by August and will be the first technical survey dog teams to operate in Ukraine.

The dogs are trained to quickly survey vast swathes of farmland by sniffing out and detecting the scent of explosive materials.

When we arrive, the dogs are already hard at work, dashing through the fields honing their detection techniques.

Suddenly, Daryna’s dog stops dead in its tracks and sits frighteningly still in front of a dummy mine.

‘We left her something to find so she stays motivated and knows that she’s doing a good job,’ Ibrahim, a senior dog trainer, tells me.

MAG volunteers pictured in farmland South of Mykolaiv in Eastern Ukraine

As reward for her success, the dog is given one minute to play on her favourite chew toy and is showered with hugs and praise from her handler – before she is quickly sent back to work.

While there is no denying that this is dangerous work, Daryna doesn’t seem phased. The same cannot be said for Daryna’s parents who are, she says, ‘worried and anxious’. No wonder, when her uncle is currently missing in action and boyfriend is serving on the front line.

But it’s the thought of someone, particularly a child, stepping on a mine that compels Daryna to do her ‘duty’.

‘If I find just one landmine then that means I will probably be saving someone’s life,’ she says.

On Ukraine’s frontlines the dangers for military sapers are even greater.

Originally from Burnley, Harley Whitehead, 34, joined a sapper team in the Ukrainian volunteer army in June 2023.

Since then, his team has neutralised more than 14,000 mines.

But their huge success has not been without its enormous costs.

Last year, Harley’s best friend – an Australian volunteer – was killed by a boobytrapped landmine while he was trying to clear a safe route for a medical evacuation from the front.

It is something Harley does not want to speak about openly so as not to upset his family.

But in an Instagram post made on May 16 about his friend’s death he said: ‘You did what you wanted and died a hero’s death.

‘I am completely and utterly broken and have been all day – just like you wouldn’t have wanted me to be.’

Three months ago, Haryley’s colleague Oleg had the bottom half of his leg severed after he stepped on a butterfly mine.

MAG volunteers pictured in farmland South of Mykolaiv in Eastern Ukraine

He is currently in rehab learning how to manage his new disability.

But these deadly and sometimes life changing consequences do not deter Harley from what he believes is essential work.

‘I completely believe in the work we are doing’, he explains ‘I have seen the problems of the landmine crisis up close and how the poorest regions are affected by dense minefields.

‘I will never get tired of clearing landmines.

‘I will never tire of fighting for what I believe in.’

Even with so many dedicated deminers, experts predict that clearing Ukraine’s fields could take decades, and at vast expense.

As rockets continue to pound Ukraine’s front line, their unexploded payloads hidden in undergrowth waiting for a foot to detonate them, the true extent of the deadly ‘contamination’ cannot be fully grasped.

As Darren Cormack, Chief Executive of MAG opines, the horrific dangers of these mines will persist ‘long after the guns have fallen silent’.

But so will the efforts of these determined deminers, who are putting their lives on the line to give their country a future.

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