Since the outbreak of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, sappers have inspected about 30,000 hectares of territory and eliminated 429 thousand explosive items. It is reported by the Office of Environmental Safety and Mine Action of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, reports UNN.
"Since the beginning of the hostilities, about 30 000 hectares of territories have been checked and over 429 thousand explosive objects have been destroyed," the ministry said.
At the same time, the territories are still not considered completely safe and ready for transfer to the use of local communities.
"This is due to the fact that, despite repeated ceasefire agreements in the framework of the Minsk process, illegal armed groups continue to attack our territory, using heavy weapons. Such shelling leads to the fact that previously cleared lands are again polluted with ammunition and this, in turn, leads to the death and injury of people: both military and civilian," the ministry noted.
Earlier we informed that 65 explosions of mines and explosive items occurred in occupied Donbas and in the gray zone in 2018, as a result of which 25 military men died.
As reported, three children died from the explosion of a mine near the occupied Horlivka.
We recall that in late August, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said that since the start of the hostilities in Donbas, 21 children had died because of mines. In total, 1858 people suffered from mines.
