The war in Ukraine has been raging on for more than five months. During this period, Russian forces have made deep inroads in several areas of the country, but not able to capture any major city. They were forced to retreat due to stiff resistance put forward by numerically inferior Ukrainian army that did not give up. The civilians too have played an important role in pushing back enemy forces. But now, videos circulating on social media show Ukrainian soldiers and civilians using twigs bricks and tyres to clear the landmines left behind by the Russian army.
Hundreds of explosives and landmines are lying around in Ukraine, hidden as booby-traps in homes, beaches and other places. The soldiers, while approaching these mines to defuse them, often use professional equipment including body armour. But in the absence of proper gear, they have resorted to locally available material to detonate the landmines.
Videos on Twitter show a soldier throwing a brick on a piece of land covered with sticks before it lands on the mine and explodes.
Another clip shows a man holding a stick and swinging it down onto the ground prompting the mine to go off.
More such videos are gaining traction on social media. One of them shows a man dressed in the Ukrainian army fatigue flinging a tyre in the air, which lands on a mine and the explosion propels it back in the air.
A few months ago, a team of Colombian soldiers travelled to Europe to train Ukrainian troops on de-mining technique. Colombia's nearly 60 years of internal conflict between the armed forces, leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and drug cartels has given it a unique distinction - of having the highest number of landmines - according to the United Nations.
The experts from Colombia, which is a NATO partner, were invited to give the training by the United States, Colombian defence minister Diego Molano said in a statement.
Since Russia invaded the country on February 24, this year, Ukrainian government has lost many precious lives.
