Mine-detecting dogs help demining the fields of Pervomaisk region: 30 munitions have already been found

Mine-detecting dogs are demining the Mykolaiv Oblast. Photo: SESU

In the Mykolaiv Oblast, mine-detecting dogs help demining the Pervomaysk community. They have already found 30 rounds of ammunition.

This was reported in the Main Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Mykolaiv region.

Two cynological settlements work in Pervomaishchyna. During the work, they already examined 23,300 square meters of territory and found 30 pieces of ammunition, including artillery shells and grenade launcher shots.

«The dogs work six days a week. They are educated, trained, and show good results every day. But it should be understood that Alf and Quad are not robots. Many factors affect their effectiveness. These are mostly weather conditions, as well as the intensity of fighting or shelling in the surveyed area. For example, if it regularly hit here and the ground is permeated with the smell of explosives, then the dog may mistakenly mark the place of detection of ammunition, because their main detector is the sense of smell. All this is taken into account when planning the work,» says Oleksandr, deputy head of the canine group.

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He notes that the main advantage of this direction is that, unlike a metal detector, which reacts only to a metal case or ammunition components, only dogs can detect and mark the location of shells with plastic cases.

How is the demining of the Mykolaiv Oblast going on?

Ukraine recently updated the country's priority demining plan. According to it, more than 512,000 hectares of agricultural land are subject to priority demining, of which 44,000 hectares are in Mykolaiv Oblast.

As of December 2023, 30% of the territory of the Mykolaiv region has been mined. In total, it is 754 thousand hectares of land.

At the same time, they are working on demining in the region. For example, as of October 2023, 13 thousand 40 hectares, including 9 thousand 25 hectares of agricultural land, have been demined in the Mykolaiv region.

Dmytro Komarov, the author of the «World Inside Out.Ukraine» project, visited the mined territories of the Mykolaiv region and showed the work of local sappers. NikVesti also told about a farmer from Kyselivka, who is trying to demine his fields on his own.

About 30,000-35,000 hectares of land remain mined in the Bashtanka district of the Mykolaiv region, part of which was under occupation. And in the village of Maksymivka of the Pervomaisk community of the Mykolaiv region, locals live with an unexploded shell under the foundation of the house.

In general, the demining situation in Maksymivka is currently critical. A year after liberation from the Russian occupiers, the village was demined by only 40%.

Read also the article by NikVesti «Decades are needed: How the demining process of the Mykolaiv region continues.»

It is known that the company «Demining of Ukraine» has developed a plant capable of demining the Mykolaiv region for three months.

Also, units of the Corps of deminers are already working in the Mykolaiv, Kherson and Kharkiv regions.