By KYIV. Sept 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said that the authorities expect to complete the demining of agricultural lands within three years after liberation, and to clear the entire territory of Ukraine in five-seven years.
“Ukraine will be a leader in humanitarian demining and demining in general. According to scientists, we need tens or hundreds of years, if we take standard technologies, to demining all lands that are currently contaminated… We have the ambition to complete demining of agricultural lands within three years after liberation of territories. And in general, up to five-seven years to complete demining of the entire territory of Ukraine,” Shmyhal said at a press conference on Friday.
He said that work is underway with technological campaigns, in particular on the use of drones and robots for mine clearance, in particular, the production of Ukrainian robots for demining agricultural land is beginning.
The Prime Minister announced that a large-scale forum on humanitarian demining will be held in Zagreb (Croatia) in October, at which the authorities will coordinate their actions with partners.
Shmyhal said that today 190,000 hectares of agricultural land out of 470,000 hectares that have been identified as priority have been surveyed.
The Prime Minister also said that the budget for 2024 for the first time includes UAH 2 billion for humanitarian demining, to which funds from partners will subsequently be added.
Among other things, Shmyhal announced the creation of a market of official operators of humanitarian demining, which will provide full or partial compensation to farmers for demining land through such operators.
“This program will create a market, create demand for the production of mine clearance vehicles, and create demand for new technologies,” he said.
