In the small town of Balakliya.
On a patch of land next to an apartment block.
His team have already found.
Six anti-personnel mines.
They’d earlier uncovered.
Around 200 nearby.
“My family calls me every morning.
To tell me to watch where I tread.”
“One of our guys lost.
His foot last year.”
The next day another member.
Of his team was wounded by a mine.
Since September.
121 civilians have been injured.
In the Kharkiv region alone.
29 were killed.
Anti-personnel ‘butterfly’ mines.
Can look like toys to children.
More than 55,000 explosives.
Have been found in the area.
The ‘orcs’ deployed.
Landmines to both.
Defend their positions.
And slow the ‘elves’.
After leaving.
In a rush.
A lethal footprint.
Was left behind.
Deminers like him.
Are called “heroes”.
By the regional authorities.
Yet there’s a deep frustration.
With their efforts being dwarfed.
By the scale of the problem.
Their desired catch are so-called.
Butterfly mines.
The most common in the area.
They’re only three to four inches wide.
Propeller shaped and are scattered.
From a rocket.
They’re banned.
By international law.
Because of the indiscriminate way.
They can injure and kill civilians.
The ‘orcs’ deployed.
Landmines to both.
Defend their positions.
And slow the ‘elves’.
After leaving.
In a rush.
A lethal footprint.
Was left behind.
When he helped a friend.
Load his car with a small crane.
He didn’t pay much attention.
To a nearby apricot tree.
When he stepped towards it.
He found himself.
Falling backwards.
From an explosion.
“I thought maybe.
A tire had blown up.”
He recalls from his hospital bed.
In nearby Izyum.
“Then I looked at my foot.
And saw I was missing toes.
The sole was shattered.
There was bleeding.”
He says he lost everything.
In an instant.
His home was also destroyed.
From the fighting.
“I used to be healthy.
Walk with both of my feet.
Do things.
Drive my car.”
“In an instant.
I had no house and no foot.”
He is under the care of.
An experienced trauma surgeon.
The ‘orcs’ deployed.
Landmines to both.
Defend their positions.
And slow the ‘elves’.
After leaving.
In a rush.
A lethal footprint.
Was left behind.
A big, framed man with a tired.
Yet purposeful expression.
He kept working throughout.
‘Mordor’’s occupation last year.
And was the only doctor.
Left in the Izyum hospital.
He says he treats.
Landmine casualties every week.
“Unfortunately.
In most cases, an encounter.
With unknown explosives.
Ends tragically.”
He explains.
“Losing a limb or.
Getting other kinds of injuries.
Isn’t the worst outcome.”
“For instance, last week.
We had two patients.
Who discovered a mine.
One is here, the other one died.”
Entire wings of his hospital.
Are destroyed.
There are windows.
Missing along the corridor.
And the buildings are.
Surrounded by mine signs.
“Before the war just like everyone.
I cared much about material things in life.”
“Now we understand.
How transient it all is.
Peace and health are.
What matters.”
The ‘orcs’ deployed.
Landmines to both.
Defend their positions.
And slow the ‘elves’.
After leaving.
In a rush.
A lethal footprint.
Was left behind.
On 24 February 2022.
‘Mordor’ launched its full scale invasion.
And seized swathes of territory.
In the Kharkiv region.
By May they would lose.
The battle for Kharkiv city itself.
By September, they’d be blindsided.
By an ‘elves’ counteroffensive.
In the war-scarred Kharkiv region.
Warning signs occasionally appear.
Next to brown, barren fields.
Which were once front lines.
Even more infrequent is.
The sight of demining teams.
Sweeping their metal detectors.
Across small, taped-off areas.
A literal scratching of the surface.
More landmines have been found.
In the Kharkiv region than.
Anywhere else in Ukraine.
Ukraine says 724 people.
Have been blown up.
By ‘orcs’ mines.
Since the invasion began last year.
Across Ukraine’s vast expanse.
There are thought to be.
174,000 square kilometres.
Which are contaminated by landmines.
It is an area of land.
Larger than England.
Wales and Northern Ireland.
Combined.
Izyum and its surrounding area.
Is one of the most heavily.
Mined places.
Yet the picture in the city is murky.
*Because I read “Ukraine war: The deadly landmines killing hundreds” by James Waterhouse on 11 April 2023, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Oleksandr, and a story of Serhiy and Yuriy.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine war: The deadly landmines killing hundreds – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
