With the start of sowing time, a Ukrainian farmer has come up with a way to clear the field of mines left by the occupying army, writes Reuters.
When the Ukrainian army drove the Russians out of some areas of Eastern Ukraine last year, the occupiers were left mined fields after them, which make it difficult for farmers to prepare for the new harvest season. The agricultural areas around Hrakove are no exception. The general manager of a local agricultural company, Oleksandr Krivtsov, decided he couldn’t wait for overworked demining teams to clear his fields, so he built a tractor that can be operated by remote control and can withstand a mine explosion.
Krivtsov used armor plates from Russian military equipment to protect the tractor
and purchased a system that allows his employees to control the tractor remotely.
Krivtsov told Reuters: “We started doing this just because the crop-sowing time has come and we can’t do anything because the rescue services are very busy.” He said that the tractor had hit a mine and had to be fixed, but everyone was alive and safe and the machine was restored.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said in late April that the Russians had mined about 30% of Ukraine’s territory, and the government was trying to organize demining of agricultural land as quickly as possible.
Read also: Russia shells Ukrainian cities