Two members of the Danish Refugee Council’s mine clearance teams were killed and three others wounded after a Russian attack in northern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian outlet Maidan Press. The strike took place in the Chernihiv region, where Dmytro Bryzhynskyi, head of the local military administration, confirmed casualties.
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) said in a statement that one of its teams had been hit and that emergency procedures were underway. The organization has deployed several groups of deminers across Ukraine to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance left behind in areas of heavy fighting.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the incident “serious” and underscored the brutality of Russia’s war. “What we know now is that there are more dead and injured. We don’t know all the circumstances, but it shows something about the brutality on the Russian side,” she said. Frederiksen added that if the attack was intentional, it would represent an even graver violation of international norms.
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen also condemned the strike, writing on X that he was “horrified” by the targeting of humanitarian workers. “I strongly condemn all forms of attacks on humanitarian workers,” he said, calling the assault further proof that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no intention of scaling back his war of aggression.
The Ukrainian governor of Chernihiv, Vjatjeslav Tjaus, accused Russia of directly targeting DRC’s humanitarian operations. Moscow rejected that claim. In a Telegram post, the Russian Defence Ministry said the strike destroyed a launch pad for long-range drones and dismissed Ukrainian reports as attempts to link “legitimate military targets” with “an allegedly civilian humanitarian mine clearance mission.”
So far, two deminers are confirmed dead, with several more injured. The nationalities of those killed have not been disclosed.