After almost four years of war, the waters of the Black Sea off Ukraine are believed to be the world's most heavily mined. DW's Nick Connolly went out with a Ukrainian naval crew trawling for an explosive catch.

Kyiv

Russian forces have invaded Ukraine from land, air and sea with strikes causing widespread damage. Global leaders have condemned the move and imposed sanctions.

Ukraine Invasion

Ukrainian teams are actively engaged in demining operations off the coast of Odessa, Ukraine's last major port not occupied by Russia. The Black Sea in this region is heavily mined due to the ongoing conflict, and crews regularly encounter both modern and historical explosives, as well as debris.

Despite technological advancements such as underwater drones, many operations still require divers to conduct controlled detonations, often under dangerous conditions exacerbated by frequent Russian attacks and uncooperative maritime traffic. Experts estimate that even if hostilities were to cease immediately, it would take up to a decade to fully clear the area of mines and other hazards.

Mines threaten ships and civilians off Ukraine's coast

We're heading out into the open sea from Odessa, Ukraine's last major port not occupied by Russia. We can't show you the city or the port behind us. Odessa is already under near daily Russian attack. Ukrainian military worries that any detail shown here could help direct those Russian strikes. This is currently one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world and it's not just for the fight, it is also because of downed missiles, downed drones and trying to find those drones and destroy them before they do any damage to civilian ships. People are being featured is the task these Ukrainians assaulted here with today. The team has just received the coordinates of an unidentified object sighted on the sea floor. They're sending a drone rather than a diver to investigate. Seafox is ready to launch and we're ready as well. It looks like a piece of missile fuselage. You can see it's already covered with shells. I can tell it's part of a missile but we'll only be able to tell if it's still dangerous, whether there's still explosives in here, once we get the footage from the other camera. Today's catch doesn't need to be destroyed immediately. Experts back on land will review the footage and decide what to do. If you spend a few days in Odessa, you'll notice just how many air alerts we have here, how much there is flying over the city. There's so much down there. The Black Sea is the most heavily mined sea in the world right now. Sometimes, though, a mine or a downed missile has to be destroyed in a hurry. If it's a threat to a shipping lane, divers go down to perform a controlled detonation. The crew tell us they sometimes have to sacrifice a drone to carry out the kamikaze mission. But technology has yet to replace humans completely. Some missions still require divers and their know-how in spite of the risks. The danger for these divers isn't just from the mines and the missiles underwater. Right now, the divers are having to wait because they're essentially a traffic jam out at sea. Many of the foreign ships heading for the port of Odessa are simply choosing to ignore the warnings that demining is going on. And are coming too close for the divers to do their job. This time, it's a false alarm. Nothing dangerous, just scrap metal. The crew have to respond to any credible report of an unidentified object. Often enough, that ends up being a fridge or other rubbish brought in by the currents. When they do find explosives, it's not just this war's mines they're clearing up. If we're still finding mines from World War II, and sometimes even from World War I, that tells you how many years of work we have ahead of us. If the war were to end tomorrow, the crew tell us, they'd likely still have another 8 to 10 years' work ahead of them to clear the seas off Odessa. With no end to the war in sight, these crews and their work are here to stay.

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Mines threaten ships and civilians off Ukraine's coast

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Ukraine Invasion