Even after a conflict ends, war leaves its mark. In some cases, the scars of war are found not only in ruined cities and shattered infrastructure but hidden beneath the soil itself. Nowhere is this clearer today than in Ukraine, where Russia’s full-scale invasion has created one of the most heavily mined territories in the world. 

International organizations estimate that nearly one-fifth of Ukraine’s landmass is now contaminated by landmines and unexploded ordnance, making it the largest mined zone in Europe since World War II. Ukraine’s experience illustrates that long after the damage of ordnance ends, landmines continue to kill and cripple citizens and destabilize countries. They prevent displaced families from returning home, obstruct reconstruction, and can lead to decades of hidden suffering.

Azerbaijan knows this reality all too well.

In Azerbaijan, the deadly legacy of the 30-year war on its territory with Armenia lives on beneath the soil, where landmines and improvised explosive devices remain hidden across enormous swaths of territory. These hidden killers claimed the lives of cousins Israyil and Amid when they stepped on a landmine in the Yusifjanli village, Aghdam. Their tragedy is not an isolated incident. Experts have warned that the long-term impact of landmines makes much of Azerbaijani territory dangerous, inaccessible, and uninhabitable for future generations.

With an estimated 1.5 million mines and countless other explosive remnants contaminating more than

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