Ukrainian deminers bid to restore semblance of safety after Russian retreat

A Ukrainian territorial defence deminer searches for mines near Hrakove village (Francisco Seco/AP)

Beside an abandoned Russian military camp in eastern Ukraine, the body of a man is sprawled in the grass – a civilian who had fallen victim to a tripwire land mine set by retreating Russian forces.

Nearby, a group of Ukrainian deminers with the country’s territorial defence forces worked to clear the area of dozens of other deadly mines and unexploded ordnance – a push to restore a semblance of safety to the cities, towns and countryside in a region that spent months under Russian occupation.