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Mine action: explosive technicians have surveyed 18,000 km² of Ukrainian land in 2023

Deminers of the State Emergency Service, the State Special Transport Service, and private operators surveyed 18,000 km² of potentially mine-contaminated land in 2023. 208,000 hectares (nearly 514,000 acres) have been recovered for agricultural use. These were the results of mine action in Ukraine in 2023, according to the Ministry of Economy.

"We started 2023 with not very encouraging figures — not a single heavy demining vehicle, six mine action operators, and 1,500 deminers. In 2024, we already have almost 30 vehicles, 26 operators, and more than 3,000 deminers. Our partners assure us that they are ready to invest nearly €500 million in humanitarian demining in Ukraine," said Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

The areas of Ukrainian land cleared of mines in 2023

  • 18,000 km² of fields, forests, and water areas have been returned to people’s use;
  • deminers of the State Emergency Service, the State Special Transport Service, and private operators have inspected 274,000 hectares of agricultural land (58% of the four-year plan);
  • 208,000 hectares of farmland have been recovered for cultivation.
Quote"Taking the national average wheat yield in 2023 as an example, the recovered lands can grow almost one million tons of grain. This is more than $225 million (UAH 8.4 billion) if the grain is sold abroad. Or about 750,000 tons of flour if the grain is processed in Ukraine," said Yuliia Svyrydenko.
Quote"We once again had Kherson watermelons, as well as Mykolaiv tomatoes and peppers, on our tables. The demining of this land helped provide us with vegetables. And the kutia or pampukhs we tasted on Christmas Day were probably made from wheat grown on the lands of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions that had been cleared of mines," the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.

Mine action in Ukraine

  • The National Mine Action Strategy, the core document to outline the policies in this area, is now at the final approval stage.
  • The state budget for 2024 includes UAH 3 billion (nearly $79 million) allocated for reimbursement of demining services ordered by farmers.
  • Ukrainian producers have started manufacturing machines to prepare the soil for demining. Such machines are already in operation in the fields of the Kharkiv region. Domestic enterprises are scaling up the production of vehicles for transporting explosives, other special equipment, and mine detectors.
Quote"The goal is to return 80% of potentially mined areas to use within 10 years," Svyrydenko says.

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