Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister, and Davor Božinovic, Croatian Minister of the Interior, signed an agreement in Zagreb to demine Ukraine. Photo: Ukrainian Ministry of Economy
Ukraine will work with Croatia in the area of humanitarian demining at the government level. Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Davor Božinovic, Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia, signed an agreement on this in Zagreb on October 10, 2023, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy.
"The Croats don’t need to be told what war is. And its results are still felt: unexploded mines and shells don’t know that the war is over. Croatia has gone through a hard and long way of mitigating the results. …Ukraine needs Croatian experience in demining as well as in reconstruction and renovation," said Svyrydenko during her meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.
Yuliia Svyrydenko mentioned the Croatian-made DOK-ING mine clearing machines already working in Ukraine.
This summer, Ukrainian and Croatian manufacturers agreed to localize the production of these systems in Ukraine.
The Ukraine-Croatia joint demining effort
The new bilateral agreement provides for the collaboration of governments, experts, demining professionals, and manufacturers from both countries in the following areas:
- non-technical and technical survey, demining, and clearance of territories;
- Ukrainians will be trained regarding the risks posed by explosive objects, and help will be provided to people who suffered from mines;
- the development of the regulatory basis and standard procedures for mine action;
- training sessions for specialists and sharing experience, expert knowledge, and best practices among demining experts and trainers;
- Croats will share their experience in the production of protective equipment, equipment for mine detection and demining, and in the training and certification of mine detection dogs;
- Croatian specialists will teach Ukrainians to effectively use demining equipment.