The Iron Harvest
Why unexploded ordinance and other explosive hazards will continue to hamper Ukraine’s ability to rebuild long after the bombs have stopped falling
On the 24th of February this year, Ukraine marked the anniversary of Russia’s invasion. What was meant to be a quick three-day dash to Kyiv has now morphed into a long war that could last for years to come. However, whilst the current focus is centred on the present realities of this bloody war, it is important to look to the future and to the end of the conflict. Rather than predicting the circumstances by which peace is finally achieved, whether it be victory for one side or the other, it is worth considering what war leaves behind. For Ukraine the residue of this conflict, the unexploded shells and landmines, will continue to haunt the country long after the bombs have stopped falling.
Ukraine is already the most mined country in the world with recent estimates suggesting 30% of the nation, or an area roughly the size of the US state of Florida, is contaminated. Only recently have landmines in Ukraine come into the focus of the western media, in no small part due to their notable viability on the battlefield. Minefields played a key role in the failure of Russia’s winter offensive around Vuhledar, where armoured columns were funnelled into kill zones. Landmines have also proved an obstacle for Ukraine as it looks to reclaim territory in its southern region of Zaporizhzhia. Here the Russians have turned the flat open farmland into walls of landmines which have slowed Ukraine’s advance to a crawl. However, away from the frontlines, mines have also had a deadly impact on civilian life. According to Human Rights Watch, landmines have been found in 11 of Ukraine’s 27 regions, presenting a continued threat to the country’s fragile reconstruction efforts.
The potency of mines, decades after the end of hostilities is clearly felt in Cambodia. Here during the Khmer Rouge and throughout the 80s and 90s, millions of landmines were lain throughout the country. In that time, they have caused 64,000 casualties maiming and killing without pause. Though much work, funded by UN initiatives and world governments, has been done in clearing these minefields, an estimated 4 – 6 million landmines remain. Indeed, the danger that these relics of war continue to pose was made clear early last year when three experts were killed whilst defusing an anti-tank mine likely laid decades before. These incidents have become all too common in Cambodia’s long struggle to become mine free, though the war is over, mines and other dormant ordinance, continue to menace the country’s future.
Cambodia’s struggle to consign war to its past is both a terrifying reminder of the longevity of mines and an indication of what awaits the future of Ukraine. However, landmines aren’t the only challenge facing the nation. Over the course of Russia’s invasion millions of shells have been expended on battlefields across the country. Many of these are from older soviet stockpiles, which likely have a higher dud rate than more modern western alternatives, spreading large amounts of unexploded ordinance across Ukraine.
Certainly, the announcement over the summer that the US plans to supply cluster munitions to the Ukrainians will only add to these concerns. These weapons disperse small explosive submunitions, or bomblets, over a wide area proving an effective alternative to single shot projectiles. However, in many countries they are subject to the International Convention on Cluster Munitions, a multinational treaty which bans their use. This is largely because the weapons have a high risk of producing small explosive duds which have historically led to civilian casualties. The potential for cluster munitions to harm non-combatants is something Ukraine is all to familiar with. Since the beginning of the invasion Russia has been using these weapons across the country, often against cities and other civilian targets. In March 2022, Human Rights Watch reported that Russia had used cluster munitions on Kharkiv in a series of ‘indiscriminate’ attacks which deliberately targeted civilians. This attack also left behind several duds, indeed, recent reporting suggests the failure rate for these Russian weapons may be as high as 40%.
As with landmines the problems that unexploded ordinance present, like those produced by cluster munitions, are likely to persist beyond the current war. Nowhere is this clearer than in France where more than a century after the First World War farmers routinely find unexploded ordinance in their fields. Known as the Iron Harvest this contamination of large areas of Northern France and Belgium has meant farmers are often at risk. Between 2016 and 2019 the Belgian government was forced to pay out $205,000 (£197,000) in compensation largely due to damaged farm equipment. However, the problem goes far beyond a case of dud shells. Indeed, many of the millions of shells fired, contained poison gas whose chemicals continue to pollute the land around them. This has led the French government to designate ‘Red Zones’ which are considered uninhabitable even today.
The French and Cambodian experiences with unexploded ordinance and landmines offer crucial insights into Ukraine’s future struggle to consign this current conflict to its past. Here the impact that the First World War continues to have on French and Belgian agriculture is particularly significant for Ukraine. Prior to the 2022 invasion, Ukraine’s main export was agricultural products including sunflower oil, wheat and corn. However, the war has hit this sector particularly hard, most notably through the deliberate targeting of grain stocks and Russia’s Black Sea Blockade. Yet another less reported, though equally significant, blow has been dealt at the very beginning of this agricultural supply chain and this brings us back to mines and dud shells. Many of the largest minefields cover swathes of the country’s most arable land, an area commonly known as the ‘Black Earth Belt’. This has already disrupted Ukraine’s harvest with farmers forced to clear their fields of landmines before sowing their crop. However, in Ukraine’s case the munitions involved make a deadly difference. In France the munitions that farmers encounter are usually old shells and rusty grenades, which whilst still dangerous, are less liable to harm farmers particularly in steel tractors raised high above the ground. By contrast, Ukraine’s farmers are more likely to encounter mines, many of which are designed to destroy a 50-ton tank. Indeed, landmines are already proving hazardous for Ukrainian farmers. Back in May this year, four tractors in four different areas of the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions blew up after they hit mines, injuring their drivers.
Similarly, if there is one lesson to learn from Cambodia it’s that the problem will be expensive, likely requiring significant international investment on a scale not seen before. The persistence of Cambodia’s struggle with mines also acts as a microcosm for the challenges Ukraine is likely to face. Were the war in Ukraine to end tomorrow estimates for how long the demining and process vary wildly but it may not be a matter of decades but centuries. A recent report in the Washington Post suggested that for the 500 demining teams currently involved, it would take 757 years to make the country mine free again. Though this figure is likely speculative, what is certain is that Ukraine’s suffering will be persistent; the bombs are here to stay.
Image courtesy of manhhai via Flickr, ©2022. Some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
