Ukrainian farmer has armour plated a remote-controlled tractor to explode mines so he can get on with sowing seeds on his land within the spring.
Oleksandr Kryvtsov has kitted out his tractor with protecting panels stripped from Russian tanks.
After Russian forces have been pushed again from elements of japanese Ukraine by a Ukrainian counter-offensive final 12 months, mines remained in lots of fields.
The explosives make it perilous for farmers to sow grain for the following harvest.
Fields across the village of Hrakove aren't any exception.
Mr Kryvtsov, a common supervisor at his agricultural firm, determined he couldn't anticipate assist from overworked official deminers to clear his discipline.
Instead, he designed a remote-controlled tractor that might face up to blasts.
Using armour from broken Russian navy automobiles to guard the physique of his tractor, he purchased a system that might allow one among his staff to function the tractor remotely from a digger's bucket suspended within the air close by.
"We started doing this just because the crop-sowing time has come and we can’t do anything because the rescue services are very busy," he defined.
"We ran over an anti-tank mine. The protection got blown out (but) the tractor is safe," he added.
"Everyone's alive and safe. The equipment was restored and repaired."
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal mentioned final week about 30 per cent of Ukrainian territory had been mined by Russians and that the federal government was targeted on de-mining agricultural land as rapidly as attainable.
"We have no time to demine the fields. The amount of work is enormous," mentioned Serhii Dudak, head of a demining unit overseeing the tractor's work.
"It would take years to demine this particular field by hand and to guarantee that there are no mines here."
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