After Russian Retreat, Ukraine’s Farmers Discover Fields Full of Mines

Wall Street Journal ^ | April 28, 2022 | Alistair MacDonald

[Wuli]

Russian forces have riddled Ukrainian fields with mines and destroyed equipment in areas they once occupied, in what returning farmers and the Kyiv government allege is a campaign by Moscow to hobble the country’s agricultural industry.

Russia’s invasion already has decimated shipments of corn, wheat and sunflower oil from what was until recently one of the world’s biggest food exporters. Prices have soared, adding to global food-price inflation and heaping misery on developing countries that had been dependent on imports from the region.

The extent of damage to some farms, together with port disruption and a shortage of fertilizer, demonstrates how the war’s impact on Ukraine’s agriculture industry could extend well into next year.

When Russian troops pulled out of areas around Kyiv, they left shattered buildings and were accused of war crimes against the local population. Farmers in northern Ukraine say they have returned to fields littered with mines, unexploded ordnance and large craters. Several workers have been killed, and the work has been placed on hold in some areas, the farmers add.

Alex Lissitsa, chief executive of IMC, one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural companies, said his workers should now be planting sunflowers and corn on 30,000 hectares of land (a hectare is 2.47 acres) north of Chernihiv but can’t because of unexploded shells and mines.

“It looks like this year or even the year after we will not be able to do anything here,” Mr. Lissitsa said of parts of the land. The company also lost a grain storage facility, a chemicals laboratory and other buildings and equipment to Russian shelling.

Mr. Lissitsa said he frequently hears of deaths related to mines, adding that a worker on a neighboring farm was recently killed when his tractor ran over one.

[mac_truck]

Name one.

[Scrambler Bob]

The stupid Russians planted mines hoping they’d grow into tanks.
= ==

Maybe they would grow more mines, which could be planted in Russia.

[mac_truck]

tick tock...name an area Russia has retreated from in the East.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Kharkiv all the way to the border, Meritopol, various small cities and towns in the south and East.

Best read the article before using this thread to spit ball random BS propaganda. Maybe post it on Russkie telegram and let smarter propagandists do it for you.

[mac_truck]

Melitopol is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast of southeastern Ukraine, currently under Russian military occupation. It is situated on the Molochna River that flows through the eastern edge of the city and into the Molochnyi Lyman, which eventually joins the Sea of Azov. Wikipedia

[mac_truck]

various small cities and towns in the south and East.

Name one.

[JohnBovenmyer]

>clearing cities and towns was a higher priority

Well you can't do it all instantly so have to prioritize the order somehow. The above order probably is sensible. There have been international 'de-mining' groups working an assortment of previously mined areas around the world going back at least to the time of Princess Di. They probably won't go to an active war zone, but if peace can somehow be achieved I'd expect the de-mining capabilities available within the Ukraine to grow significantly.

[The Louiswu]

Common practice for retreating forces. There are in excess of 1 millions mines in the DMZ between North and South Korea, war is hell folks.

[lepton]

Craters and unexploded ordnance are a regular part of war. Mines in the farmer’s fields, not so much.

[StAnDeliver]

"The Ukrainian government estimates that mines are present in around 30% of farm fields in areas around Kyiv previously occupied by the Russians.

Taras Vysotskyi, Ukraine’s deputy minister of agrarian policy and food, said it was clear that the targeting of agriculture was deliberate because Russian forces placed mines in fields of no military value and continued to do so even as they withdrew. “It was the case of blocking the possibility of making agriculture productive again in Ukraine,” he said.

The two regions where the retreating Russians set mines and destroyed farm equipment and buildings are among the most agriculturally productive in Ukraine, Mr. Vysotskyi added."

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Name One

OK dumb dumb, since you got me on Melitopol, I must have my revenge, and so... I accept!

Kharkiv Oblast as of April 29th-March 9th, note Russia controlled almost the entire northern and eastern sections of the Oblast, including all the way up to Sumy, which was surrounded, and large sections of the North East of Ukraine:

https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/DraftUkraineCoTMarch9%2C2022.png Today:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSalsQfaIAAzuka?format=jpg&name=large

Cities liberated in Kharkiv Oblast confirmed from the Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_of_cities_during_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War

Chuhuiv, Malynivka, Staryi Saltiv, liberated in March, April, and one recently in May. However, Wikipedia cannot be accurate as there are a large number of small cities and towns that have been liberated around Kharkiv besides these three when looking at the occupation maps above. Wikipedia may only be including the larger cities:

I can keep doing this with the lands that were totally occupied around Sumy, but you might argue "well that's NORTH Eastern Ukraine, and since I'm a retarded propagandist, I will fight you over that distinction."

Outside of Kharkiv Oblast, we find the following cities/towns liberated:

In the South we have Posad-Pokrovske, Nova Zorya, per the wiki article, but this also doesn't give the full picture.

Mykolaiv, which is the city I had in mind when I responded to you (not Melitopol), was under serious assault in February and March, with tanks actually having driven through the city:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mykolaiv

Since then, though Russkies are still randomly shelling it, Mykolaiv and vast swathes of land that had formerly been occupied have since been cleaned of Russian Orcs and Goblins:

Today:

Compare to the early March maps that include Mykolaiv, which shows Russian forces in control around the east of the city and the north:

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-updates

At this point in my research I am getting too tired to continue (which goes to show how easy it is for you to post stupid lies as you do, whereas we have to sit here and spend 30 minutes looking up cities). I think it proves you are full of shit, but I will do more if you troll sufficiently hard enough. Not because the troll is successful, but because I enjoy humiliating dumb Putinists.

[Greetings_Puny_Humans]

Common practice for retreating forces. There are in excess of 1 millions mines in the DMZ between North and South Korea, war is hell folks.

The article makes the point that large numbers of mines were in farmer's fields with no military value.

Considering Putin has been bombing: shopping malls, food stores, and actively stealing large amounts of Wheat, it's clear that Russia's aim is to damage food production in the country.

I believe Russia thinks it might gain some advantage, perhaps even crush the west, by worsening hyperinflation across the world by hampering agricultural exports from Ukraine. Medvedev said something like inflation will crush the US recently.

It won't, at least not because of Russia, because India and other countries are already exporting record amounts of agriculture in response due to market forces.

That said, I expect inflation to only get worse in the USA due to spending and dumb Covid policies still in effect at our major ports.

It won't kill us though. It'll just put Trump back in the White House where we will reverse these policies.

[PIF]

Why planting mines that grow into tanks is a bad idea.
https://twitter.com/ItsBorys/status/1523664324950036480

[wastedyears]

So we believe the mainstream media now?

[ganeemead]

MOOOOOOOooooooo, plop, plop, plop.....

The logic of the operation is simple. A real WAR between Russia and Ukraine would last 72 hours or less.

The ONLY reason this operation is lasting any longer than that is that Russians are taking extreme care not to harm civilians or civilian ifrastructure. That should be obvious.

NAZIS, of course, do not have any such scruples. A totally reasonable assumption is that any sort of evidence of wanton killing or destruction (mining farm fields) you may be seeing in news from Ukraine, is the work of the bandera-Nazis and not the work of the Russian military.

[MercyFlush]

That’s awesome! (-:

[MercyFlush]

“So we believe the mainstream media now?”

It’s been confirmed enough that it is no longer remarkable news.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibRPws_iYKY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozFuW7WtBRE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQL3hZdJqWk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z71adUNiKCc

[Vaden]

This is often seen in soldiers who have given up any pretense of “winning” any longer. Germans blew up bridges, weapons, food supplies, factories and anything else that could possibly be used by the Allies. Japanese from Saipan to Okinawa expended all weaponry before one final bonsai charge with bamboo sticks or by retreating to difficult areas and causing enormous casualties before they all died or committed suicide.

[Zhang Fei]

[The article makes the point that large numbers of mines were in farmer’s fields with no military value.]

---

If these farmers were pro-Russia before, I have a feeling they no longer are.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“Z should have taken the good deal when he had a chance.“

Maybe George Washington should have taken the British deal during the Valley Forge winter ?

I mean, hey it’s only freedom right?
Nothing wrong with a neighboring country invading you and raping every female they can find.