News

Project announced to turn minefields into vineyards in Ukraine

05 December 2022 By Christian Smith

Humanitarian non-profit organisation Roots of Peace has announced that, in partnership with The Rotary E-Club of Ukraine, it will begin work to clear mines from vineyard land in the country’s Mykolaiv region.

Mykolaiv is home to vineyards that have been cultivated over thousands of years, but has become badly affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to a press release, much of the vineyard land in the region is now “held hostage” by landmines and other explosive remnants of the conflict.

“As almost 30 percent of the territory of Ukraine remain contaminated with Russian mines, it our strong belief that with Roots for Peace’s support the demining process in Ukraine will be performed quickly and effectively, bringing back normal life to our people, who suffered from this war of Russian aggression so far,” commented Dmytro Kushneruk, San Francisco Consul General of Ukraine.

Violet Grgich, President of Rutherford-based Grgich Hills Estate, is partnering with Roots of Peace CEO Heidi Kuhn on a global campaign to eradicate landmines from Ukraine and plant agriculture in its place.

“I’ve walked the minefields of the world, and Roots of Peace has had programs in each of them, including Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, and The Holy Land. Now we are scaling up to the minefields of Ukraine– which was once the breadbasket of Europe, and now faces widespread landmine use by Russia.” said Heidi Kuhn.

Ukraine has begun the process of evacuating citizens from the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, amid fears that damage to infrastructure is too severe for civilians there to survive the winter.

“May we turn mines to vines and replace the scourge of landmines with bountiful vineyards in Ukraine – this a call to action,” said Kuhn.

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