Mines, missiles and debris from drones - the Black Sea is a battlefield, but also a key trade corridor for Ukraine. How is Kiev dealing with the threat of mines, which are believed to be around 400?
The Black Sea is a battlefield, a minefield and Yevhen's workplace, ARD reports. The man is part of a special unit of the Ukrainian Navy that searches for dangerous objects in the water, explains Yevhen, who, together with four other colleagues, travels in a small boat near the coast of Odessa.
"When combat drones fly at night, they are shot down and fall into the sea. "Everything collects at the bottom, but as a result of storms or currents it resurfaces," he told German public broadcaster ARD. The same applies to mines laid in the sea years ago, which pose an even greater danger, Yevhen adds.
A key trade route for Ukraine
The Black Sea is an important trade route for Ukraine. The country exports large quantities of grain through it in container ships. The corridor for them must be free of dangerous objects. And the task of the marines is to detect and neutralize them.
The search in the open sea is carried out with a special underwater drone about two meters long, which the soldiers have called "fish". It looks like a small submarine and was made in Germany. The "fish" is given a route along which it searches a larger area for suspicious objects. "The underwater drone is in operation for about an hour. Then we pull it out, take the data and specially trained people analyze it," the commander explains.
If a sea mine is found, it is defused by divers. But it's not just mines, missiles and drone debris that are found. The Black Sea is full of unusual objects, says a soldier from Yevhen's unit, who requested anonymity: "We find a lot of things, everything possible. There are places where ships have sunk. For example, we found a Greek amphora, parts of a Greek wooden ship. Lots of things like that. The sea keeps everything in itself."
They are not afraid of mines
An air alert is often issued for the region while the minesweepers are on the move. The soldiers do not perceive this as a serious danger. They say that in their boat they are simply too small a target. And what about the mines in the sea? Could the boat run into one of them?
"The mines are mostly magnetic, which means they stick to metal. The hull of my boat is not made of iron, so we are not afraid of these mines", explains helmsman Andriy in the ARD report. In addition, there are anchored sea mines, which are located at a depth of about 2 meters. However, the soldiers' boat has a submergence depth of only 0.8 meters. "So there is no danger of touching such a mine, only of crossing it", the helmsman added.
"The Russians have thrown everything they have"
No one knows how many mines there are in the area. In the summer of 2024, the Ukrainian Navy estimated that there could be about 400 in the Black Sea. In addition to sea mines, many land mines were washed into the sea when the Kakhovka dam was destroyed in 2023. They also need to be removed.
Commander Yevhen believes that this will take years, if not decades, of work by the Navy: "Today, the Black Sea is one of the most mined bodies of water. Not much has been done in the field of mine clearance since World War II.“ There are still mines from that period today. "And that's only in the zone controlled by Ukraine. Around Crimea, the Russians have thrown everything they have," the military officer added.
Ukraine will need international support in the future for mine clearance in the Black Sea. With modern equipment, this is now easier. But the Ukrainian Navy cannot cope alone with the amount of mines found in the sea, Yevhen emphasizes.