How Nibulon has been demining the fields near Mykolaiv for the second year in a row in photos

From March 2022, the Russian military shelled the Shyroke Territorial Community daily for more than eight months. The enemy attacked with all possible types of weapons, involved aviation. Since then, it has been one of the most mined communities in the Mykolaiv region. The company Nibulon, whose production branch was located in the village of Shyroke, has been demining it for the second year.

How the work on demining the fields continues, how many hectares of land have already been returned to cultivation and what is the state of the infrastructure of Nibulon today — read in the material NikVesti.

The Russians destroyed the facilities of the Snihurivska branch

The largest branch of the company in the Mykolaiv region — Snihurivska — was previously located in the village of Shyroke. The main administrative building and production base of Nibulon were located there. And the company cultivated the fields around the village on the basis of property rights and lease agreements with sharecroppers.

Even on the day of the start of the full-scale war, Nibulon employees were in the fields, Oleksandr Mekerov, director of the Snihurivska branch, said.

«On February 24, we had field work — we fertilized winter wheat fields at night. They finished just before they started hitting our airports and air defense systems. We arrived here at the base, and people were leaving. I stayed because I had to organize the next day's loading of fertilizers, going to the field. And closer to 5 in the morning, shelling and rumbling began from Mykolaiv. No one understood immediately, because no one expected this. We live in our own world, we need to think about the land, how to increase productivity, make a profit. Then they learned from the news that the war had begun. They were in shock,» he shared.

Currently, the production base and the administrative building of the Snihurivska branch in Shyroke have been destroyed, reported NikVesti at the company. Before the war, seed batches were grown here, which were then distributed to the southern regions.

The enemy destroyed all the warehouses of the branch, the workshop and the warehouse of goods and material values. The administration building of the Nibulon branch office was directly hit by projectiles. As a result, the ceiling was destroyed, the roof collapsed in two places, and the windows and doors in the offices were blown out by the blast wave.

«Nibulon» demines the last 2% of the fields in Shyroke community

Nibulon decided to gradually resume its work on the territory of the Shyroke community — it started with demining the land. These are fields that are either owned by the company or owned by shareholders who rent them out.

Today, sappers and a demining machine are working in the fields of the community. Nibulon specialists examine every centimeter. After that, the cleared areas pass two levels of quality control, and only then a corresponding report is drawn up, which is then submitted to the Mine Action Center.

«Over the course of a year, we, as a mine countermeasures operator, returned 5,500 hectares or 98% of the lands of the Snihurivska branch in the Mykolayiv region. As of now, this is 15% of all demined lands in Ukraine from 2022. 570 landowners in Snihurivka district became the actual beneficiaries, who are now able to make a profit,» said Mykhailo Rizak, director of interaction with authorities of the Nibulon company.

As of October 2024, the company has only 2% of its fields in the Mykolaiv region left to clear. This is 134.5 hectares of land in the Shyroke Territorial Community.

«We 100% met the deadlines and fulfilled the plan to return part of our branch to land cultivation. It should also be understood that Nibulon is a company that exports only 5% of its own agricultural products, the other 95% are small and medium-sized farmers, that is, about 3,500 small and medium-sized farmers who sell products to us. We are interested in these farmers returning to the cultivation of the land as soon as possible,» said NikVesti Mykhailo Rizak.

Fields in the community are demined remotely

A special machine of the German-Swiss manufacturer GCS-200 helps demining the fields of the Shyroke community. It was acquired with the support of the German government. In total, the company has four units of such equipment.

«It cannot be said that it is too little or too much. We are an operator that has one of the largest number of machines to understand. A year ago, all of Ukraine had 36 cars, we had two. Today, there are about 100 machines, and we have 4 machines. That is, we have a rather significant role. But there are operators who have even more — about 7 machines,» explained the director of interaction with authorities of the Nibulon company.

Such machines are designed for heavy demining tasks, the company says. The equipment is effective for neutralizing anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. By the way, one such machine can clear an area the size of a football field every day, destroying explosive objects. The main advantage of the GCS-200, the company says, is not only the productivity and scope of demining, but also the preservation of the lives of sappers. After all, the machine is controlled remotely and the sapper is in a safe zone — up to a kilometer away from the special equipment, explained NikVesti director of interaction with authorities Mykhailo Rizak.

And recently, Nibulon announced plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) for humanitarian demining of fields. This should help the company reduce the cost of such works, Mykhailo Rizak explained.

AI, the company specified, will be used to analyze aerial photography, which should help identify land mines and explosive objects.

Yuliia Boichenko, «NikVest