The tractor was reinforced with metal from a Russian infantry vehicle and radio control was installed
Oleksandr Kryvtsun, the owner of an agricultural enterprise in the village of Grakove, Kharkiv region, converted a tractor to work on potentially mined fields. "Suspilne" tells about this in the report.
Grakove is located in Chuguyiv district. This village was liberated by the Ukrainian military in September 2022.
Kravtsun in Hrakovo owns 2,000 hectares of land, part of which he rents from the villagers. Until September, the lands of his company were under fire; after deoccupation, sappers collected 260 mines from just one site. It is not known how many more mines need to be defused in the field.
"The sappers now have the task of demining power lines and gas pipelines for the population. They don't have time, and we are also asking for help. That's why we decided to do something to go out into the field and demine ourselves," Kryvtsun said.
The tractor was strengthened from the sides with metal from a Russian infantry car and wooden beams, and radio controls were installed. Now it is used to remove weeds in the field.
An autopilot is installed on the tractor - it drives around the field without a driver. The operator remotely controls the tractor using a remote control with a screen, another screen is located in the tractor cab. Communication is carried out through antennas, the radius of action is up to two kilometers.
"I didn't believe it myself, but they told me: we will do it. And we did. They installed hydraulic valves from imported equipment, reflashed the programs," Kryvtsun said. According to him, equipping a tractor that is more than 30 years old with radio control cost approximately UAH 1 million.
In May, the farmer plans to sow the fields with corn and sunflowers.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, approximately 30% of the country's territory is mined. As a result, explosive devices and civilians die and are injured almost every day. Kharkiv and Kherson regions are the most polluted by mines, because the enemy was there the longest, the State Emergency Service noted.
On March 13, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyі, stated that more than 170,000 km² of the territory of Ukraine remain dangerous due to unexploded mines and projectiles, and a significant part of this territory is the land of agrarians.
Many farmers still work, using metal detectors, taking tractors into the fields at their own peril and risk. "They say that there is no choice: you either start working and get out of the hole, or if your business is idle for another year, it will finally die," farmers told the media.
According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, as of April 22, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, 124 Ukrainians have died from landmines, including six children.
