A farmer from the Mykolaiv region demined almost 400 hectares of his land

Equipment that burned as a result of shelling of a farm in the Mykolayiv region. Photo: Olena Kozubovska, NikVesti

Mykhailo Zviryshyn, a farmer from the village of Blahodatne, Mykolaiv region, together with his two sons surveyed almost 400 hectares of their land.

They told NikVesti about this in the report «Self-demining: why farmers of Mykolaiv region and Kherson region have to survey their lands themselves.»

«We demined almost everything ourselves, walked the fields, found ammunition, then called the emergency services. We carried what we could ourselves to the edge of the field. They also demined the warehouse themselves. We had 250 tons of wheat lying here, all of it burned. We were left naked and barefoot,» said the farmer.

Mykhailo Zviryshyn, a farmer from Blagodatny. Photo: Olena Kozubovska, «NykVesty"

To the question that pushes the man and his sons to risk their lives, he answers - taxes. If an agrarian does not have a document confirming that his land plot is mined, he must pay the minimum tax obligation on the land. Mykhailo Zviryshyn says that during more than two years of full-scale war, he did not manage to get the relevant document, so he is forced to pay tax all this time.

«And as long as it will stand, it will stand for tens of years. We pay taxes, we process, we don't process, but we still have to pay. They don't give us a document that the land is mined,» said the farmer's son Mykhailo Zviryshyn.

Mykhailo Zviryshyn is a farmer. Photo: Olena Kozubovska, NikVesti

«We even bought metal detectors. We struggled all last year to get into the fields this year. Of course, it was scary, you think whether you will return from the field or not. I don't worry so much about myself yet, I've already lived my life, but it's scary for the children,» says the man.

We will remind that recently, on April 2, in the village of Liubomyrivka, Mykolaiv Oblast, a tractor exploded due to ammunition. As the sowing campaign approaches, farmers in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions are increasingly taking risks and surveying their lands on their own, which often ends tragically.

In order to find out what explosive objects Ukrainians risk coming across as a result of a full-scale war, and how to behave in such a situation, NikVesti explained in the material «What are mines and what to do if you find a suspicious object?».

Rescuers of the State Emergency Service repeatedly call on farmers not to engage in self-mining and emphasize that it is safe to work only in those territories that have been directly inspected by sappers.

See also the report of NikVesti about two brothers in the Snihurivka district who were blown up by a Russian mine and lost their legs.