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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Lorenzo Tondo and Isobel Koshiw in Kherson region

‘The Russians mined everything’: why making Kherson safe could take years

A sign indicating the presence of mines on the road to Kherson.
A sign indicating the presence of mines on the road to Kherson. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

As many in Ukraine woke up on Sunday after a day of celebrating Russia’s retreat from Kherson, a team of 10 railway workers arrived at the small village of Posad-Pokrovske, for months one of the fiercest frontlines of the conflict. Their task was to repair the tracks to Mykolaiv. The route was blocked by tree branches and logs strewn across the road, placed there, they discovered later, by Ukrainian soldiers to signal hidden explosives ahead. They cleared the barricade and had driven less than 100 metres when they hit an anti-tank mine. One worker lost his legs and the others were taken to hospital.

It was not an isolated incident. Just a few days before a family of four drove over a mine in liberated Novoraisk, injuring an 11-year-old child.

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