Over a thousand civilians have been killed by Russian mines since the beginning of the full-scale war

Since February 2022, 1,083 civilians in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine have been injured by Russian anti-personnel mines. Among them, 333 people died and 750 were injured. Kharkiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions remain the most contaminated with mines.

Representatives of the Main Directorate of Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine spoke about this at the Fifth Review Conference (5RC) on the Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, which took place in the Kingdom of Cambodia as part of the Siem Reap-Angkor Summit.

The event was attended by representatives of 90 countries that are parties to the Convention, 12 observer countries and about 20 delegations of international organizations. The Ukrainian delegation emphasized the crimes of the Russian Federation, which include the use of anti-personnel mines against civilians.

The participants were also told about attacks on humanitarian groups engaged in demining, which significantly complicates these activities. Representatives of Ukraine also spoke about achievements in the cleanup of contaminated areas. In particular, in 2024, units of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine conducted a non-technical survey of 35,000 km², where they found no evidence of mine danger. As a result, potentially contaminated areas were reduced from 174,000 to 139,000 km².

Earlier in Kherson, police explosive technician Oleksandr Viter was killed during demining after Russian attacks . Before that, six employees of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, who were engaged in humanitarian demining in Kherson region, came under targeted fire from Russians and were killed. Two other SES employees, including one female paramedic, were injured.

It was also said that on July 8, 2023, the President of Ukraine, by his Decree No. 381/2023, awarded the title "Hero of Ukraine" for personal courage and heroism in the defense of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, selfless service to the Ukrainian people Sviatoslav Aleksapolskyi - Junior Sergeant (posthumously).

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