Clearing the Path to a Safe Future

June 1, 2023

The Knights of Columbus coordinates a lifesaving initiative to remove explosive ordnance in Ukraine, allowing residents to return and rebuild

By Mateusz Ziomber

June 1, 2023

Members of a mine clearance team search a roadside for mines and improvised explosive devices last October near Topolske, a village in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images

Stay alert. Focus. Choose well-known, paved roads. Look for things out of the ordinary: clothes hanging on trees, out-of-place rocks. Avoid potholes as if your life depends on it — because it may. And don’t delay; remember you must be home before sunset.

These are everyday thoughts of some 2 million Ukrainians, and rules taught to children, now living in territories riddled with landmines, unexploded bombs and improvised explosive devices. Fifteen months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it is estimated that nearly 30% of the country’s land — an area roughly the size of Florida or Wisconsin — is contaminated by unexploded ordnance. Landmines and explosive remnants of war have so far killed more than 750 civilians, many of them children.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Knights of Columbus has stood on the frontlines of providing food, medicine, shelter and other humanitarian aid to displaced Ukrainians. During this time, clearing areas of deadly explosives to protect civilians has increasingly stood out as an urgent need. In response, the Supreme Council engaged with trusted partners, having previously collaborated on a similar initiative in the Middle East: ITF Enhancing Human Security, a Slovenian nonprofit organization dedicated to clearing landmines and unexploded shells; and Safe Path Group, an NGO established by U.S. veterans who are expert educators in unexploded ordnance risks.

”We initially came here in June [2022] to do reconnaissance and see if there was a way we could assist and help,” said Jay Gardner, project manager of Safe Path Group. ”It became abundantly clear from the outset that there was a dramatic need for explosive ordnance clearance within Ukraine.”

The Knights’ partners are now working with the local civil administration and protection services to provide specialized training. The initiative, which is equipping Ukrainians to remove unexploded ordnance and instruct other local minesweepers, has a straightforward goal: clear the land so that residents can move back to their homes.

Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly reviews mine detection equipment following a meeting with government officials and nonprofit partners during his visit to Lviv, Ukraine, in December 2022. Also pictured is Ukraine State Deputy Youriy Maletskiy (second from right). *Photo by Andrey Gorb*

”People need to be safe,” said Ukraine State Deputy Youriy Maletskiy. ”We need to support such initiatives that protect civilians’ lives — kids especially — and enable people to rebuild their lives.”

A NEW START

Many Ukrainians returning to their homes face a grim scenario: plundered, destroyed or burned buildings, devastated infrastructure, a lack of electricity and drinking water. The danger of landmines, booby traps and artillery shells — an estimated 3 in 10 shells remain unexploded — further hinders the difficult work of reconstruction.

The Order and its partners have faced such challenges before. In 2019, the groups were together able to clear 2.6 million square meters of Syrian land once controlled by Islamic State militants, helping to protect local Christian communities.

”The situation in Ukraine is difficult, of course, and I would like it to end as soon as possible so that people can return to their homes,” said Petro Glazun, the head of the Safe Path Group training. ”But to return, first of all, we need to clear the territories of explosive devices.”

There are also people who, despite the danger, stayed in their homes, and still live under Russian occupation. Older people, widows and children — often orphans cared for by their grandparents — are waiting and praying for liberation. But even when it comes, they will face tremendous danger caused by explosive remnants of war.

”The more people who are professionally trained and using appropriate equipment are involved, the sooner we will clear those lands and remove threats,” said State Deputy Maletskiy.

For the past several months, professional instructors with the Safe Path Group have been teaching Ukrainian volunteers in eastern Ukraine. The first groups of minesweepers will start their work this summer, after receiving official state certifications. The K of C-sponsored initiative will also fund basic demining equipment.

Volunteers receive instructions during a demining training program near Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, on Feb. 28, just more than one year after the Russian invasion. *Photo by Andrey Gorb*

”We have 10 students in training at the base down near Kharkiv,” noted Gardner. ”They are doing extremely well, and we expect that in a month they will complete that training. And very soon after that we should be able to produce live operations.”

Since unexploded ordnance can vary widely, expertise is as essential as experience. The Russian army is using new versions of anti-personnel landmines, including mines equipped with seismic sensors, and cluster bombs.

”Even though I knew something, it turns out I knew almost nothing compared to the information provided here,” said Konstantin, a Ukrainian trainee who had previous military engineering experience.

”If there is more recruitment in the future, I will bring colleagues who have been relieved from the military due to injury,” he added. ”Though they can’t continue to serve, they want to do good.”

BUILDING THE CAPACITY FOR PEACE

The safety of Ukrainian civilians — that’s the priority. But Russian aggression has also had global consequences.

Ukraine is one of the top agricultural producers in the world, exporting critical amounts of oilseeds, corn and wheat. The conflict has already affected food markets in distant regions of the world, especially in Africa but also South America and Indonesia. Farmers from liberated territories have to resume their work as soon as possible. However, even assessing the condition of their fields represents a perilous threat.

”Tractor drivers have been blown up and people are afraid to go to the fields,” said Ivan Vlasenko, who lives in the Kherson region and works in the agriculture industry. ”Although the fields themselves are not heavily mined, there is more of a problem with unexploded rockets.”

Though the region was recently liberated, conditions remain dire, said Vlasenko, who is a charter member of a new K of C council at the Church of the Nativity of Virgin Mary in Zelenivka.

”Mine clearance has not been carried out because there are missile attacks every day,” he said in mid-May. ”Yesterday, three people were killed, including a 5-year-old child.”

Some self-proclaimed specialists have begun offering to clear the land for farmers. Not for free, of course, and without any guarantee of success or safety.

”People can’t farm the land because mines and explosive remains are everywhere,” said Maletskiy. ”Russians are focused on quantity, not quality. Now they’re even using old missiles that don’t explode when they hit the ground.”

Ukraine will be dealing with this problem for at least the next decade; some experts estimate that one year of war results in 10 years of land clearing.

The Order’s Ukraine Solidarity Fund^®, established to provide urgent relief, has allowed Knights to distribute millions of pounds of food, medicine and other supplies, and to offer housing and educational opportunities to women and children fleeing war. The answer to such a humanitarian crisis, however, must be multifaceted, and a truly Catholic response has to incorporate a broad perspective: not only feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless but also enabling people and communities to rebuild and recover.

”Support given by the Knights of Columbus in the Kharkiv region is much needed and appreciated. But when it comes to demining, we need all the help we can get,” Maletskiy said. ”I think that in the next five or six years, it will become the No. 1 priority here. This project is a much-needed investment in the future of Ukraine.”

To learn more, visit kofc.org/ukraine.

*****

MATEUSZ ZIOMBER writes from Kraków, Poland.

Clearing the Path to a Safe Future

A NEW START

BUILDING THE CAPACITY FOR PEACE

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