Five out of six countries along the border with Russia and Belarus plan to secure their borders with land mines, aiming to protect NATO's eastern flank from a possible attack. But the plan is highly controversial.

Minsk

Countries along the borders with Russia and Belarus are planning to deploy land mines to reinforce their security and protect NATO's eastern flank. This decision follows the large-scale use of mines in Ukraine, where millions of explosive devices remain, posing risks to civilians and the economy by rendering vast areas of land unusable.

Efforts to clear these mines are ongoing and expected to take years, with organizations like the HALO Trust employing war veterans to assist in demining operations. The expertise of veterans is seen as crucial in identifying and removing mines, but the strategy of deploying new mines remains controversial due to the long-term dangers they pose.

Russian threat sees Eastern Europe bring back land mines

It's painstaking and dangerous. More than two years after Russian soldiers were forced out of Kiev, deminers are still working to clear unexploded ordnance from areas on the city's outskirts. It's not only civilians who are at risk, but also the economy. Many areas of forest are dangerous because of mines or the aftermath of fighting. This hits the economy hard because whole hectares of land cannot be farmed. Experts from the HALO Trust, the world's biggest mine clearance organisation, estimate there are many millions of explosive items in Ukraine's soil, including more than two million landmines laid by Russia since the full-scale invasion. The scale of this problem is immense. It's not just here in Kiev, but right across the country there are hundreds of sites like this. Removing all the landmines and unexploded ordnance will take years, if not decades. To bolster capabilities, the HALO Trust has been taking on war veterans with extensive battlefield experience. Veterans like Ruslan Yakov, who served as a sapper clearing mines for the military until he stepped on one himself. We'd captured an enemy position and were ordered to clear it of explosives and hazardous items. While we were securing the area, we came under artillery fire and had to seek cover. Unfortunately, I stepped on a mine and was injured. Yakov hoped that when he recovered, he could go back to his battalion. But the challenges posed by his prosthesis made the rigours of the military too difficult and he was demobilised. The HALO Trust gives me the chance to keep on working for my country. That's really important. And contribute, they do. Using their knowledge of warfare, the vets analyse these high-resolution drone images. They identify with a skilled eye and determine where the other side might have placed explosives. We had a lot of expertise in flying drones, in analysing imagery and bringing data together. But we were sort of missing some domain knowledge about the local context in the battlefield and we're hoping that the veterans will help us understand a little bit better. It's a win-win, they tell me. Given the industrial scale of landmine and explosive ordnance laying in Ukraine, the role of the war vets is invaluable.

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Kyiv

Ukraine Invasion

Russia hits Kyiv with largest drone attack after Trump-Putin call

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Jerusalem

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Gilimanuk

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Tehran

Iran Strikes

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