Area of mined lands in Ukraine decreased by over 20% in 2.5 years - Shmyhal
Kyiv • UNN
The area of potentially mined lands in Ukraine has decreased by over 20% since the end of 2022, now totaling about 137,000 square kilometers, predominantly agricultural land. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced the attraction of $1.2 billion in demining aid and the formation of an international coalition of over fifty states.
The area of potentially mined lands in Ukraine, compared to the end of 2022, has decreased by more than 20% and today amounts to about 137 thousand square kilometers. These are predominantly agricultural lands. This was stated by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal following a meeting on the implementation of humanitarian demining measures, as reported by UNN.
Details
Demining operations are carried out by the State Emergency Service, the National Police, the Ministry of Defense, and non-governmental mine action operators.
According to the head of the government, 112 certified operators are working in the market, eight of which are foreign. Their resources include over 9,000 people, 278 demining and earthmoving machines, and over 13,000 metal detectors.
Following the meeting, I set a number of tasks for ministries and responsible persons, including accelerating the launch of the Register of Territories Contaminated with Explosive Ordnance. And also to develop an action plan for attracting international funds directly for demining activities. We have already formed a large international anti-mine coalition of more than fifty states and attracted 1.2 billion dollars in aid for demining
The Ministry of Defense reported on the demining of frontline territories. It was agreed with the ministries to reallocate powers in the field of operational and humanitarian demining to improve process coordination.
Shmyhal emphasized that humanitarian demining is a key element of rapid recovery. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly increase the pace of work to clear Ukrainian fields, villages, cities, and infrastructure of mines as quickly as possible.
Recall
Earlier, the head of the government announced that the Cabinet of Ministers will allocate over 22 billion UAH of financial resources provided by partners for recovery needs. Of these, almost 18.5 billion UAH from the Japan International Cooperation Agency will be transferred for the needs of medicine, education, agriculture, humanitarian demining, and for the restoration of communal services in Ukrainian cities.