Kherson: clearance begins the day after

Kherson was liberated on 11 November 2022. The sappers went in almost immediately, because nothing else could start until they had.

Not the water supply, which needed engineers on the ground. Not the power lines, which needed crews standing in fields. Not the farming, which needed tractors in soil that might contain anything. Not the return of residents, who would otherwise walk into it.

How the work is organised

Non-technical survey comes first: interviewing residents, mapping where devices were reported, narrowing the suspect area so that expensive clearance is not spent on ground that is already safe. Then technical survey, then clearance, then handover of the land with documentation.

International partners funded equipment, mechanical demining machines, protective gear and training, and accredited operators worked alongside the State Emergency Service under a national authority. Donors have consistently treated this as a priority, and I think they are right to. Of all reconstruction spending, this is the line that unlocks every other line.