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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Julian Borger and Artem Mazhulin in Husarivka, Kharkiv region

‘We couldn’t wait’: Ukrainian farmers improvise to clear their land of mines

Oleksandr Kryvtsov with his tractor . A remote controlled demining machine that he uses for demining in his agricultural land.
Oleksandr Kryvtsov with his tractor . A remote controlled demining machine that he uses for demining in his agricultural land. Photograph: Emre Çaylak/The Guardian

In the weeks during which Russian troops occupied the Husarivka dairy farm, almost all of its 2,500 cattle were killed in artillery fire or for target practice. When the farm was liberated, the carcasses covered the land as far as you could see.

Those that were not blown up or gunned down starved. They were so hungry, they ate each other’s tails. The survivors standing at the trough in one of the farm’s wrecked sheds have stubs where their tails once were.

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