Ukrainian Farmer Made Mine

Across Ukraine, land mines litter towns, fields, major roads, and forests. While these Russian booby traps often require experience and intense focus to remove, one Ukrainian farmer has taken matters into his own hands: He's decked out a tractor with pieces from wrecked Russian tanks to remotely de-mine his farmland.

Oleksandr Kryvtsov told Reuters the fields around his village of Hrakove, located just south of Kharkiv, are covered in land mines. He said rescue workers and official deminers in the areas are overworked, so it's dangerous for farmers to sow their fields.

Rather than wait or abandon his field, Kryvtsov has taken a different approach. By scavenging armor from wrecked Russian tanks and military vehicles, he's reconfigured a tractor into a machine able to detect and remove mines.

The armor helps the tractor withstand explosions from the mines.

"We ran over an anti-tank mine. The protection got blown out (but) the tractor is safe," he told Reuters. "Everyone's alive and safe. The equipment was restored and repaired."

Kryvtsov remotely operates the tractor from an unexpected location — sitting inside the lifted shovel of a plower, the Ukrainian farmer can watch as he moves his tractor around the field, hunting for mines.

Land mines are a consistent and perilous problem for Ukrainian civilians and soldiers. The UN previously estimated that an area four times as large as Switzerland is covered in mines and potentially unsafe, according to The New York Times.

In early April, the World Bank estimated de-mining Ukraine would cost more than $37 billion.

Ukrainian soldiers have taken novel approaches to locate and detonate landmines, including using nearby dead animals, fiberglass rods, and ropes with grappling hooks.

BBC News reported last month that Russian troops are notorious for planting landmines and booby traps, which has forced Ukraine's military to adapt and adjust their movement in the country.

Read next