See how Kharkiv's bomb squad neutralizes cluster bombs in Ukraine
BILASHI, UKRAINE — When the bomb squad arrives here, it is peaceful. The trees have new leaves; the fields are green.
One resident comes out of his house and shows NPR reporters a handful of shrapnel. When the bombs explode, he says, they fly through the windows.
He's on the verge of tears. "I cannot understand how a brother fights a brother," he says.
He walks away without giving his name, but his neighbor Yuri Yes'Kov explains that this little village not far from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine has been shelled incessantly since March.
The night before, Yes'Kov says, a Russian rocket flew overhead, dropping bomblets all over the fields.
"One of them exploded today," he says.
What he is describing bears the hallmarks of cluster munitions, bombs that scatter over a wide area and blow up either on a timer or when something or someone goes over them.
They are banned internationally because they maim or kill indiscriminately, but human rights groups say the Russian military has been dropping them over Ukraine. Back in March, Human Rights Watch documented the use of cluster munitions in Kharkiv, just south of Bilashi. In a statement, Steve Goose, the arms director at Human Rights Watch, said that using cluster bombs in a populated area showed "callous disregard for people's lives."
When the bomb crew finish suiting up, they hang a charge on what looks like a fishing pole. They walk it slowly to one of the bombs, drop it on top and set it off from a distance.
Maksim, the deputy chief of the Kharkiv pyrotechnic department, who asks that we only use his first name to comply with Ukrainian government policy, says what they found here was a "PTM-1," a kind of Russian anti-tank mine.
As they get ready to blow up another mine, a small group of Ukrainian military servicemen show up in a pickup truck. They're a reconnaissance team. As soon as they fly a drone, the Russians begin to shell.
Yes'Kov, the resident, says it has been like this since the war began. A small group of Ukrainian troops show up; they leave and then the Russians start shelling their houses.
He shakes his head. His vegetable garden is now full of mines. His son has been fighting in the trenches and he can't seem to make sense of this war.
"We want peace," he says. "We don't want this shelling. We want peace."
Hanna Palamarenko contributed reporting.
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Transcript
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Human rights groups are accusing the Russian military of using cluster munitions in Ukraine. These are explosives that scatter over a wide area. They detonate either on a timer or when something or someone goes over them. Cluster munitions are banned internationally because they maim and kill indiscriminately. Russia denies using them, but authorities in Ukraine say that's not true. NPR's Eyder Peralta followed a Ukrainian outfit searching for cluster munitions in the hopes of neutralizing them.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG HOWLING)
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: When we arrive to Bilashi with the bomb squad, it's peaceful. The trees have nascent leaves. The fields are green.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)
PERALTA: One of the villagers rustles through the grass and comes toward us with his palms open.
What is that? Is that shrapnel?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Russian).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: It's something that hits their windows.
PERALTA: What he has in his hands are pieces of charred metal.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Through interpreter) It's difficult to go through this when you're sober.
(Speaking Russian).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: He can't understand how brother fights brother.
PERALTA: The man is in his 70s. His eyes are red. He looks absolutely desolate.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Russian).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: He can't understand, what is it for?
PERALTA: He walks off without giving us his name. His neighbor, Yurij Yes’kov, says this little village has been shelled consistently since March. And the night before, a Russian rocket flew overhead, dropping bomblets all over the fields.
YURIJ YES'KOV: (Through interpreter) There was one today that exploded itself.
PERALTA: He says the pattern here is clear. The Ukrainian military sends reconnaissance teams into the village, and the Russians begin shelling. He shakes his head. His vegetable garden is now full of mines. His son has been fighting in the trenches, and he can't seem to make sense of this war.
YES'KOV: (Through interpreter) Of course, they want peace. They don't want this shelling. They want peace.
PERALTA: While we've been talking, the bomb squad has already suited up.
(SOUNDBITE OF CABLE UNSPOOLING)
PERALTA: So the bomb squad here has put a charge at the end of what looks like a big fishing pole. And the plan is to drop it next to these mines and explode them.
They connect cables to a detonator. They wind it to create a charge.
MAKSIM: (Speaking Russian).
(SOUNDBITE OF MINE EXPLODING)
MAKSIM: (Speaking Russian).
PERALTA: Maksim, the deputy head of the Kharkiv pyrotechnic department who asks we only use first names, says they have found Russian anti-tank mines. Suddenly, a small group of military men show up on pickup trucks - a reconnaissance mission. The old men take off toward their homes. The military men throw a drone in the sky, and a still spring day gives way to war.
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
PERALTA: The Russian border is just 20 miles from here. There's a Russian position within sight.
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
PERALTA: All right. Let's get there, guys.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Come on. Let's go.
PERALTA: Come on, guys. Hey, let's go. Anya.
We leave. It's too unpredictable, too dangerous. Later, we learned that the bomb squad detonated 24 bomblets. They only did the ones that they could see on the hard surfaces. The fields are still full of these bombs. The mayor of the town told us that three people died that day because of Russian shelling. Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Bilashi in northeastern Ukraine. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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