Australian volunteer killed clearing landmines in Ukraine

An Australian citizen was killed while volunteering to remove landmines in eastern Ukraine, according to local media reports on Monday.

Nick Parsons, 28, died in a demining explosion near the city of Izyum last week, broadcaster SBS News reported.

He had been working with Prevail Together, a humanitarian and mine-clearance charity.

Two others were critically wounded in the same incident, including the organization's co-founder, Chris Garrett, who later died of his injuries.

"We are very thankful to him and for his courageous work in Ukraine," Ukraine's Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko told SBS.

"I would like to express my condolences to his family members, to his friends and relatives here in Australia. It's very tragic," he added.

Parsons had been volunteering in some of the most heavily mined regions of the country.

The UN says millions of landmines and other unexploded ordnance have been scattered across Ukrainian battlefields since Russia's war began in February 2022. The country is now considered "the most dangerous place for unexploded weapons today," according to the SBS report.