Berliner Boersenzeitung - Ukraine dam's destruction increases mines threat: Red Cross

EUR -
AED 4.26841
AFN 80.362394
ALL 97.542216
AMD 446.735356
ANG 2.080099
AOA 1065.794205
ARS 1481.767207
AUD 1.776887
AWG 2.092071
AZN 1.980459
BAM 1.954642
BBD 2.348809
BDT 141.226338
BGN 1.956132
BHD 0.43834
BIF 3466.946195
BMD 1.162261
BND 1.493215
BOB 8.038238
BRL 6.486005
BSD 1.163311
BTN 100.147673
BWP 15.618748
BYN 3.807045
BYR 22780.325028
BZD 2.336716
CAD 1.596076
CDF 3354.287055
CHF 0.932981
CLF 0.029194
CLP 1120.296341
CNY 8.342655
CNH 8.346165
COP 4674.330945
CRC 587.052233
CUC 1.162261
CUP 30.799929
CVE 110.199718
CZK 24.634179
DJF 206.947405
DKK 7.463699
DOP 70.258379
DZD 151.514244
EGP 57.439973
ERN 17.433922
ETB 161.636047
FJD 2.620788
FKP 0.864949
GBP 0.86668
GEL 3.150183
GGP 0.864949
GHS 12.127816
GIP 0.864949
GMD 83.106172
GNF 10094.020343
GTQ 8.931709
GYD 243.385819
HKD 9.117884
HNL 30.445964
HRK 7.532663
HTG 152.739518
HUF 398.923459
IDR 18977.696027
ILS 3.902549
IMP 0.864949
INR 100.127437
IQD 1523.897249
IRR 48945.741055
ISK 142.354235
JEP 0.864949
JMD 186.029797
JOD 0.824089
JPY 172.932309
KES 150.300962
KGS 101.640213
KHR 4662.238109
KMF 491.989694
KPW 1046.046309
KRW 1616.942576
KWD 0.355234
KYD 0.969426
KZT 620.152624
LAK 25087.138481
LBP 104232.653
LKR 350.972086
LRD 233.241828
LSL 20.596898
LTL 3.431856
LVL 0.703041
LYD 6.327252
MAD 10.519168
MDL 19.788278
MGA 5176.933206
MKD 61.523554
MMK 2439.678938
MNT 4168.013035
MOP 9.404829
MRU 46.275587
MUR 53.119698
MVR 17.903172
MWK 2017.205016
MXN 21.795313
MYR 4.935007
MZN 74.338683
NAD 20.596898
NGN 1779.387897
NIO 42.814637
NOK 11.840776
NPR 160.236077
NZD 1.945045
OMR 0.446995
PAB 1.163311
PEN 4.140847
PGK 4.817146
PHP 66.377189
PKR 331.310933
PLN 4.244785
PYG 9003.666265
QAR 4.229694
RON 5.072695
RSD 117.080642
RUB 91.375869
RWF 1681.00418
SAR 4.36165
SBD 9.64543
SCR 17.082281
SDG 697.942292
SEK 11.235354
SGD 1.492813
SHP 0.913355
SLE 26.62005
SLL 24372.046713
SOS 664.806172
SRD 43.245469
STD 24056.466061
STN 24.485495
SVC 10.17897
SYP 15112.803405
SZL 20.592801
THB 37.628259
TJS 11.196867
TMT 4.079538
TND 3.419874
TOP 2.722137
TRY 46.897678
TTD 7.897322
TWD 34.181766
TZS 3030.404801
UAH 48.58252
UGX 4168.530579
USD 1.162261
UYU 46.882227
UZS 14725.276806
VES 135.943958
VND 30404.760344
VUV 138.92149
WST 3.080055
XAF 655.568644
XAG 0.030448
XAU 0.000347
XCD 3.14107
XCG 2.096558
XDR 0.815317
XOF 655.568644
XPF 119.331742
YER 280.163552
ZAR 20.584139
ZMK 10461.752209
ZMW 26.785133
ZWL 374.247723
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Ukraine dam's destruction increases mines threat: Red Cross
Ukraine dam's destruction increases mines threat: Red Cross / Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI - AFP

Ukraine dam's destruction increases mines threat: Red Cross

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine will have a catastrophic effect on locating landmines in the affected region, the Red Cross warned Wednesday.

Text size:

"We knew where the hazards were," said Erik Tollefsen, head of the Weapon Contamination Unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross. "Now we don't know.

"All we know is that they are somewhere downstream."

"This is a major concern because it will affect not just the population, but also all of those that are coming in to help," he added.

Tollefsen was speaking as the ICRC presented a new drone that uses artificial intelligence to locate mines and other explosive remnants of war from the heat they emit.

It could one day be used in Ukraine.

The ICRC had spent several months helping mine clearance operations in Ukraine, mapping and marking minefields and providing training and equipment, said Tollefsen.

"Now all of that has been washed away."

Anti-personnel and anti-tank mines such as the TM-57 will now have been dispersed into unknown locations, he said.

Ukraine's Kakhovka dam in Russian-held territory was destroyed on Tuesday, flooding dozens of villages and parts of a nearby city, and sparking fears of a humanitarian disaster.

- Mine numbers 'massive' -

Already on Tuesday the United Nations warned of the risks associated with the mines, which are numerous in Ukraine.

The ICRC noted that the floodwaters would not damage or deactivate these explosive devices, which means they could pose a threat for decades to come.

Downstream from the dam in the Kherson region "there has been a lot of what we call defensive minefields put up by parties to the conflict", said Norwegian specialist Tollefsen.

Normally, these are "very, very populated with both anti-personnel mines and anti-vehicle mines", he added.

The ICRC does not know how many mines might have been submerged or washed away by the floodwaters.

"The parties to conflict haven't declared any kind of numbers of mines that have been laid," said Tollefsen.

"We just know that the numbers are massive."

Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for the destruction of the 1950s Soviet-era dam on the Dnipro River.

The flooding has forced several thousand civilians to leave their homes.

- New drone 'a step forward' -

ICRC president Mirjana Spoljaric Egger said the destruction of the dam was "symbolic for the need to comply with international humanitarian law.

"The damage is already massive and I feel very concerned about how much more damage will be caused by this incident," she told reporters at the unveiling of the mine-hunting drone.

The new drone can cover in a day the same surface area a demining dog would in six months, has so far only been used in testing in Jordan.

The Geneva-based ICRC hopes to use it for the first time this year around the city of Aleppo in northwest Syria.

The drone if eventually used in Ukraine, could help trace the large numbers of mines laid there since Russia's full-scale invasion in February last year.

It will not remove mines itself but should accelerate their detection thanks to its cameras, heat detector and artificial intelligence software, which the ICRC intends to share.

"It is a step forward because it covers large areas at a much higher speed," said ICRC weapons specialist Martin Jebens.

Spoljaric Egger added: "Typically in mine clearance operations the average figure per day per deminer is 50 square metres.

"With this new technology being put together by the ICRC and its partners, conservative estimates suggest we will be able to survey and process 100,000 square metres a day for more efficient demining."

(B.Hartmann--BBZ)