Ukraine says it has disarmed 180,000 explosive devices since war began

The Ukrainian government says its mine clearance forces have detected and disarmed more than 180,000 explosive devices since the Russian invasion began in February.

Yevhenii Yenin, the first deputy interior minister, said on Ukrainian television on Monday that “a fifth of Ukraine’s territory was contaminated with unexploded bombs, mines and aerial bombs”.

“Since the beginning of the war, our services have detected and disarmed more than 180,000 explosive artifacts. More than 68 thousand hectares have already been surveyed”. Yenin said technicians were surveying about 500 hectares every week.

“In the Kiev region, a thousand explosive objects are still being disarmed every day,” he said.

Russian forces attack Ukraine’s Donetsk region

Forces Ukrainians reported heavy Russian bombardment and attempts to advance on several cities in Donetsk, a region in eastern Ukraine that became the main focus of the nearly six-month war, but said they had repelled many of the attacks.

The General Staff of Forces Ukraine’s navies also reported Russian bombing of more than a dozen towns on the southern front – particularly the Kherson region, largely controlled by the Ukraine. forces russiansbut where Ukrainian troops are capturing territory.

Much attention has been paid to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine amid fears of catastrophe due to renewed bombing in recent days, for which Russia and Ukraine exchange accusations.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the plant, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russian soldiers who fire at the biggest nuclear plant in Europe or use them as a base to shoot will become a “special target” of forces Ukrainians.

The Zaporizhzhia power plant controls the southern bank of a vast reservoir on the Dnipro River. At forces Ukrainians who control the cities on the opposite bank are under heavy bombardment from the Russian side.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which seeks to inspect the plant, has warned of a nuclear disaster unless the fighting stops. Nuclear experts fear the fighting could damage the plant’s fuel tanks or reactors.

Zelensky said Ukraine has often proposed different formats to the Russian leadership for peace talks, with no progress.

“So we have to defend ourselves, we have to respond to all forms of terror, to all instances of bombing – fierce bombing that doesn’t stop for a single day,” he said in video comments on Sunday.

east and south

Kiev has said for weeks that it is planning a counteroffensive to recapture Zaporizhzhia and the neighboring province of Kherson, most of the territory Russia conquered after the Feb. 24 invasion and still holds.

Ukraine’s military command said on Sunday that Russian soldiers had continued unsuccessfully to attack Ukrainian positions near Avdiivka, which since 2014 has become one of the Ukrainian outposts. forces Ukrainians near Donetsk.

Ukrainian military expert Oleg Zhdanov said the situation was particularly difficult in Avdiivka and nearby towns such as Pisky.

“We have insufficient artillery power and our forces are asking for more support to defend Pisky,” he said in a video posted online. “But the city is basically under Ukrainian control.”