Approximately 17 thousand square kilometers of them were returned to use in 2024. This was announced by the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine - Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, UNN reports with reference to the Ministry of Economy.
Details
"As of the end of 2024, 35 thousand square kilometers of Ukrainian land have been surveyed, cleared or demined. This is more than the area of Odesa region, the largest of all Ukrainian regions. About 17 thousand square kilometers were returned to use in 2024," said Yulia Svyrydenko.
In addition, she noted that in particular, in 2024, Ukrainian sappers returned more than 285 thousand hectares (2,850 square kilometers) of agricultural land identified for priority inspection and cleanup to farmers. In total, over the year, bomb squads surveyed more than 318 thousand hectares (3,180 square kilometers) of such land.
At the end of the year, there were more than 200 mechanical demining machines, some of which were manufactured or assembled in Ukraine. 73 mine action operators were certified. Almost 5.5 thousand specialists are already working in this field
In addition, last year, the Ministry of Economy, together with the Center for Humanitarian Demining, launched a market for agricultural land demining services. Involvement of private operators in the demining of agricultural land, whose work is 100% covered by the state, will accelerate the clearance of our land.
We have a transparent system that allows us to hold competitive tenders for the purchase of services for the demining of agricultural land. At the same time, the farmer does not pay for demining, these costs are covered by the state. The Center for Humanitarian Demining has already held 50 auctions and concluded 47 agreements for the demining of agricultural land. The total savings amounted to more than 15%, or UAH 97 million. Modeling shows that after demining these lands, it will take only 1-2 years to harvest grain, the profit from which will be commensurate or even higher than the cost of demining
Addendum
According to the SES, the capabilities of demining units of both the SES and the National Police have significantly improved in 2023-2024.
Thanks to increased training, better technical equipment and a new control organization, the MIA sappers have removed more than 898,000 explosive items.
In addition, with the support of the Japanese government and JICA, the construction of the Sapper Training Center has begun. It will become a training base for specialists from both the public and private sectors.
In September, the Office of Mine Action began operating at the SES, which provides real-time monitoring of demining.
The modernized Underwater Demining Center currently employs 336 sapper divers, including 24 deep-sea demining specialists who use barocamps to work at depths of up to 50 meters.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs system also has 101 mechanized demining vehicles at its disposal. In addition, a hub for their maintenance has been set up, as well as a workshop for repairing metal detectors.
It is also reported that there are 2 certification centers in the SES system, during which 35 organizations have received the status of mine action operators (including 10 SES units). Another 35 organizations are at different stages of certification.