Mine danger along coastlines increases significantly – Natalia Humeniuk

As a result of the occupiers’ blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP, mine danger along the coastline has increased significantly. On Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, 9 mines were reported to drift ashore.

Natalia Humeniuk, Head of the United Coordinating Press Center of Security and Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine, made this statement during a briefing at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.

“At the moment, we have not recorded cases of (mines – Ed.) reaching other countries yet. But we recorded cases of spontaneous detonation while those mines were drifting downstream. In Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, 9 such mines have been reported to drift ashore. They look like river mines, brought directly from those positions. We counted 9 mines drifting ashore. Unfortunately, not all of them were destroyed in a controlled manner, there were cases of uncontrolled detonation from collision with some objects in the water and from collision with the coast,” she said.

According to Natalia Humeniuk, no one got injured by these mines, but the danger remains. She pointed out that this is why local authorities are trying to limit access to the coastline as much as possible.

“The danger remains very high, because there are a lot of piles, islands of garbage still drifting on various open surfaces of the water area as well as, possibly, underneath the water. Therefore, we are talking about the fact that the threat to the coastline has now increased many times. And local authorities are trying to limit access to the coast as much as possible so as not to expose people to danger.”

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news