When summer settled over Ukraine’s mine-affected farmland earlier this year, the fields shimmered with tall grasses and wildflowers, and heat rose from the soil in soft, wavering lines. From a distance the landscape felt gentle, almost idyllic. Up close, it told another story. Beneath the surface lay the explosive remnants of recent fighting — scattered unpredictably across farmland, villages, and open ground.
On one of those warm days, a young handler knelt beside her energetic black dog. Khai drank eagerly from a collapsible bowl as Daryna scanned the field ahead. “It’s a bit hard for him to work under the scorching sun because of his black fur,” she said at the time. “But he’s trying his best, and I give him more frequent breaks and extra water.” Moments earlier, he had indicated on a buried metal fragment: the casing of a previously exploded rocket, still carrying microscopic explosive traces. Until disposal specialists examined it, the team treated every signal as though it might be dangerous.
That was summer. Now, as temperatures drop across Ukraine and frost begins to settle into the soil, APOPO’s dog teams are preparing for their winter stand-down — a seasonal pause that allows the ground to freeze and then thaw before detection work can resume safely in spring.
A Childhood Dream Meets a Country in Need
Daryna grew up in a small village in the Sumy region of Ukraine, in a landscape shaped by farming and rural life. Even as a child she felt drawn to animals. “I knew from school that I wanted to work with animals, so I followed this path,” she says.
She studied cynology at Sumy National Agrarian University, focusing on canine behavior, training methods, and the practical skills required to work professionally with dogs. When APOPO partnered with her university in late 2023 to bring Ukrainian students into the organization’s canine detection program, she recognized the opportunity immediately. “For me, this was a great chance for professional growth and hands-on practice, as well as a way to help make Ukraine safer for civilians,” she explains.
But taking the position meant relocating to Cambodia for several months of intensive training. She had worked abroad before and knew how difficult extended time away from home can be. The idea of moving to Southeast Asia — with its unfamiliar weather, language, and culture — felt intimidating. Still, she knew the work mattered. With encouragement from her family, she made the decision to go.
Cambodia: Heat, Culture Shock, and Learning to Communicate Without Words
Nothing could have prepared her for Cambodia’s heat. “As soon as we stepped out of the airport… it felt as though there was no air at all,” she says. “The heat was so intense… almost like stepping into a sauna.” The air felt heavy and unfamiliar.
Life outside the training center brought its own challenges. In local markets, communication proved nearly impossible. Few people spoke English, and many did not read the text produced by translation apps. The trainees resorted to showing pictures on their phones and watching shopkeepers tap prices into calculators. “At first, it was difficult,” she remembers. “But after some time, we adapted. We no longer needed words to communicate. Through gestures alone, we could make ourselves understood.”
Training began with fundamentals. The trainees learned how to approach dogs calmly, how to read posture and body language, and how to handle a dog safely. They were then assigned to walk the dogs each day, allowing the animals to learn their scents and build trust.
Once ready, they began working with experienced Technical Survey Dogs. These dogs had already searched real minefields and demonstrated how trained canines move, indicate odor, and communicate subtle cues through their posture. Later, younger dogs arrived from Croatia, and the trainees helped prepare them for fieldwork. Throughout this process, trainers observed both canine temperament and handler personality, guiding future matches.
It was during this period that Daryna first met Khai, though at the time he was paired with another Ukrainian handler named Katya. She herself was preparing for accreditation with a dog named Charlie. They worked close to each other without realizing that their paths would soon converge.
Back in Ukraine: A Young Dog Changes, and So Does His Path
When the teams returned to Ukraine, the change in environment was dramatic. The climate was colder, the soil smelled different, and the terrain was unfamiliar. As Khai matured, his behavior shifted, and the match with his original handler no longer suited him.
“I understand that the trainers and team leaders decided to reassign him to a handler whose temperament would be a better fit,” says Daryna. “That honor fell to me.”
Their early work together was demanding. Khai brimmed with energy and struggled to stay focused. “He didn’t want to work; he wanted to play,” she recalls. Her first task was to show him that work could feel like play — that searching could be just as satisfying as chasing a toy.
There were emotional complexities as well. Dogs remember their handlers. When Khai saw Katya nearby in the early weeks, his focus drifted toward her, puzzled by the change. To help him bond with Daryna, the team trained him separately for a time, giving him space to form new routines and associations.
Gradually the confusion faded, replaced by trust. “Now he fully accepts me as his handler,” she says. “He responds to me very well.”
The Scale of the Challenge: One of the World’s Most Contaminated Countries
Ukraine is now believed to be one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world. Explosive remnants of war are scattered across farmland, villages, forests, and infrastructure corridors. Many areas were heavily shelled or occupied, leaving behind complex contamination patterns that are difficult to predict.
Tens of thousands of explosive items have already been found and removed, yet millions more may lie beneath the soil. Some hazards are intact munitions buried just a few centimeters deep. Others are fragments from recent strikes that still retain explosive residue. For farmers, families, and returning communities, the risk is real and constant.
This is why rapid, accurate detection is essential. Dog teams help map contamination quickly and confirm which areas are safe, narrowing down the land that needs slow, meticulous clearance. Their work accelerates every stage of the mine action process.
Learning to Work the Ukrainian Minefields
In Ukraine, Khai’s role takes on new and urgent meaning. Unlike older minefields in other countries, where explosives may have been buried for decades, most contamination here is recent. Rocket fragments, artillery pieces, and other remnants often still carry traces of explosive material. When Khai signals on something, the team does not yet know whether it is harmless or dangerous. Every indication must be treated with caution until examined by specialists.
Khai works in two ways. As a Technical Survey Dog, he helps determine the true boundaries of mine-suspected areas, ensuring that detailed clearance focuses only on the land that truly requires it.
As a Mine Detection Dog, he pinpoints the exact location of explosive items. In this work he has already searched 940 square meters, including finds such as exploded rocket parts buried up to 40 centimeters deep and metal fragments contaminated with explosive residue.
Despite the hazardous environment, Khai is kept completely safe. APOPO trains dogs to sit the moment they detect explosive odor. This works because a dog’s nose reaches the source of odor long before the weight of its body does. By sitting immediately, they stop well before their paws could make contact with a buried item. Although the safety margin may seem small, it has never failed APOPO. No APOPO dog has ever been injured during detection work.
Working in Partnership With MAG
APOPO’s work in Ukraine is carried out in close cooperation with the Mines Advisory Group, known as MAG. The partnership is structured so that each organization focuses on its core strength. APOPO deploys and manages the canine detection teams, whose job is to locate hazardous items or confirm that land is free from explosive contamination. MAG’s trained explosive ordnance disposal specialists then take over, conducting the physical removal or destruction of any items the dogs indicate.
This division of responsibilities — APOPO providing rapid, highly accurate scent detection and MAG delivering expert clearance — has already made a measurable impact. In the Mykolaiv region, more than 270 people can now safely return to their farmland and homes. Thanks to technical survey dogs and demining teams, over 30 hectares of agricultural land across four plots in two settlements have been cleared and are being handed back to farmers. One plot has already been transferred, two await final inspection by the National Mine Action Center, and the fourth is undergoing additional clearance before handover.
This life-changing work restores not just land but livelihoods, allowing families to farm, earn income, and rebuild their futures on land that was once too dangerous to touch. The land was returned by MAG and APOPO teams with funding from Poland and Spain through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
A Land of Seasons — and a Winter Pause
Ukraine’s seasons shape every aspect of demining. Spring brings thawed soil and detectable scent. Summer brings long working days, heat, and dense vegetation. Autumn brings cooler temperatures and unpredictable weather, but the dogs continue working whenever conditions allow. They cannot search during active rain, as scent disperses too quickly, but they resume once conditions stabilize.
Winter is the only true stand-down period. Snow hides the soil, ice locks it in place, and temperatures fall far below freezing. In these conditions, scent cannot move through the ground in a way dogs can reliably detect. APOPO’s canine operations pause during winter and resume when the ground thaws in early spring.
Finding Their Rhythm
For Khai, raised in Cambodia’s constant warmth, Ukraine’s seasons were confusing at first. “He simply didn’t understand what was happening,” Daryna says. “Why is it so cold? Why are there so many new smells?”
By late spring and early summer, he had adapted fully to his new environment. On some of those days, the fields were bright with wildflowers, offering rare moments of color in an otherwise demanding landscape. Between operations, the teams kept training light and playful. “We did small training sessions and played with toys,” she remembers. “He really enjoyed that.”
Now, as winter approaches, the atmosphere on site is different. The dogs and handlers are completing the last tasks of the season, conducting essential maintenance and preparation work before the cold months make scent detection impossible. Soon the ground will freeze, and the teams will rest until spring.
For Daryna, the work is both challenging and deeply rewarding. “Working at APOPO is something new and unusual for me. It is incredibly interesting,” she reflects. “Every day you challenge yourself because no two days at work are ever the same.”
Their partnership — formed in Cambodia, strengthened in Ukraine, and shaped by climate, discipline, and trust — now lies at the heart of APOPO’s mission in the country. Handler and dog, learning together, committed to the same goal: returning land to families one careful square meter at a time.
Support Khai’s Life-Saving Work
Khai is one of APOPO’s HeroDOGs available for adoption. Your support directly funds his care, his continued training, and his ongoing work helping make Ukraine safe.
Adopt Khai today and stand behind every square meter he helps return to communities.