Sowing in the Kherson region is on the verge of failure due to slow demining of fields

About 60,000 hectares of territory remain mined in the de-occupied part of the Kherson region.

Radio Svoboda reports this with reference to data from the Kherson Regional Military Administration.

It is noted that in the region, first of all, logistics routes will be demined, then they will move to the agricultural sector.

The head of the Novovorontsov settlement military administration, Andrii Seletskyi, told the newspaper that most of the agricultural enterprises in the community were damaged, and the fields were mined. Therefore, this year's sowing campaign is in jeopardy.

"Lands are either contaminated with metal, or mined, or have unexploded ordnance. A memorandum was concluded together with the Zelenodol territorial community on the joint use of a demining machine, which is not what was promised to us, but there is a prospect of receiving a special demining machine from the Swiss embassy," he noted.

Andriy Seletskyi added that the community is located on the front line, 7 km to the left bank, where the occupiers are, so sowing on the coastal strip will be impossible at all."

The situation is similar in the Visokopil community. Its head, Hanna Shostak-Kuchmyak, said that they are trying to move to land demining as soon as possible.

"Our economy in the community was built on agriculture. All taxes came from the land. The budget was formed from taxes that came from the land. Now it is impossible to cultivate this land, because it is also now all stuffed with explosive substances. That is why we are working to clear the fields as soon as possible so that farmers can go out into the fields. These are jobs, and the economy, and harvests, because everyone felt that the Kherson Region did not produce a harvest this year," Hanna said.

Farmers also point out that, in addition to mining, the destruction of equipment and infrastructure during hostilities, as well as the absence of many specialists who left or were drafted into the Armed Forces, hinder the implementation of works.

IC UAC according to Radio Svoboda (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)