Ilona chose to remain when hundreds of women and children left Ukraine during the early months of the Russian invasion. Ilona can safely remove landmines, which has become a valuable expertise in her nation.
When she learned Russian missiles were being launched in February, Ilona relocated her family to a safer location. Despite her initial reservations about sticking behind, she told CBS News that she needed to “pull myself together and go to work.”
Ilona, 27, began removing landmines in 2019. She accepted the dangerous position after seeing the efforts of members of The HALO Trust, a humanitarian mine removal group, in Kramatorsk. When the current assault started in February, Ukraine’s army had already been involved in a smoldering conflict with Russian-backed separatists surrounding the eastern Ukrainian city for five years.
In a file picture, Ilona, a demining worker with The HALO Trust, is shown standing next to the kind of armored excavator she uses in her efforts to detect and securely remove landmines in Ukraine.
She quit her work as a dancer to join the HALO Trust’s demining activities, motivated by the chance to save lives.
“It was a bit of a scandal in my family because my parents expected me to go into an open field of mines, there would be an explosion, and that would be my work,” Ilona said. Her parents agreed with her choice once she explained the job and safety precautions. The HALO Trust requested that CBS News only identify its employees by their first names.
“I really feel that people will be able to return to Ukraine as a result of our effort,” Ilona told CBS News. “People will be able to return to their homes and cities, where they will be able to stroll freely and live in safety. Everything we do is for this reason.”
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
On June 14, 2022, a mine detection worker of The HALO Trust demining NGO looks for anti-tank and anti-personnel landmines in Lypivka, Ukraine.
According to a senior State Department official, Russian troops planted numerous victim-activated boobytraps as they retreated from positions taken during the initial phase of their invasion, including improvised explosive devices in food facilities, car trunks, washing machines, doorways, hospital beds, and even the bodies of those killed.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, around 62,000 square kilometers of the country’s territory may be polluted by landmines and other abandoned munitions. This is a region somewhat smaller than the state of Wisconsin, and it encompasses 10% of Ukraine’s cropland, making many fields in the country’s eastern breadbasket unsafe to cultivate.
According to Olesia, communications manager at The HALO Trust, there has been an emphasis on clearing agricultural land in order to increase food production. According to one farmer, two-thirds of his field was poisoned and could no longer be plowed.
On June 14, 2022, a mine detection worker of The HALO Trust demining NGO takes a break from hunting for anti-tank and anti-personnel landmines in Lypivka, Ukraine.
She told CBS News, “They were raising veggies and fruits for the Kyiv area.” “This is only one illustration of how risky and tough this task can be. Tractor drivers may be blown up if they enter these fields.”
As CBS News senior international correspondent Charlie D’Agata reported this week, Ukraine’s farmers face threats from all sides, notably in and near the battle lines of the eastern Donbas area. As they strive to bring in this season’s harvests, some have turned to donning flak jackets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on July 31 that the Russian invasion will slash Ukraine’s usual harvest production in half this year.
According to Chris Whatley, executive director of The HALO Trust USA, anti-tank mines have killed or wounded around 60% of those killed or injured by landmines since Russian troops departed from the Kyiv area. Anti-tank mines, also known as anti-vehicle mines, detonate when subjected to 440 pounds of pressure.
Illona has been trained as an armored excavator operator, allowing her to remove destroyed vehicles from clearing sites while her companions hunt for anti-tank mines. The dangers of the profession don’t appear to bother her. She spoke to CBS News on the significance of being valuable to her country.
“Our ladies are as courageous and gallant as our guys,” she said.
“This is difficult labor. It takes intense focus “Whatley said to CBS News. “There are procedures where the dangers are well limited, well decreased, as long as the protocols are followed, and that is why we spend so much in educating our personnel.”
The US State Department announced $89 million in demining aid for Ukraine on Tuesday, which would help pay 100 demining teams in the nation.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused Russian soldiers of purposefully concealing bombs in toys and flashy articles that may draw the attention of youngsters. According to the US official, a family going home to Bucha, outside Kyiv, discovered a bomb buried in their 10-year-old daughter’s piano.
“Russian troops’ horrible use of improvised explosive devices is reminiscent of ISIS tactics in Iraq and Syria, where ISIS terrorists tried to inflict as many civilian losses as possible and make people scared to return home,” a US official said.
Valeriia, who will join HALO Trust in November 2021, said that she is “not frightened, just proud.” She, like Ilona, said that all of the group’s efforts are targeted at guaranteeing that everyone will be able to return home one day.
Whatley estimates that demining operations in the Kyiv area would take a decade or more, and the terrible legacy of landmines will persist long after the conflict is over.
There are still Soviet anti-tank mines in Afghanistan from the mid-1980s, and anti-personnel mines from the then-Rhodesian state in Zimbabwe from the 1970s.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, nearly 5 million people are already living near unexploded landmines and other explosives throughout the nation.
“We’re busily cleaning surrounding Kyiv, but we’re also recognizing that we’ll probably need another 2,000 people to deal with the dangers that will be in Kherson,” Whatley added, referring to territory still occupied by Russia’s army.