Ukraine requires 5,000 specialists to completely demine land – Defense minister
Photo: illustrative picture/ The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces
To completely decontaminate Ukrainian territory, it is estimated that around 5,000 specialists will be required, and the process is predicted to take up to 30 years to eliminate all explosive elements.
At a briefing at Media Center Ukraine in Odesa, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov made a statement on the issue.
The head of the department clarified that five thousand specialists are needed in addition to those already working in Ukraine.
Reznikov emphasized that the appropriate assessment was made on the example of Croatia, where, post–conflict, an average of 50 kilometers of land is cleared of mines annually.
In her turn, the Minister of Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko, previously stated that it might take 70 years of work to clear the territory of Ukraine.
Earlier, Serhiy Reva, the head of the humanitarian demining department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, said on the telethon "Yedyni Novyni" that about 470,000 hectares of agricultural land in nine regions should be demined in Ukraine.
For reference:
The HALO Trust, a leading global demining organization, has estimated that the land contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in Ukraine is roughly equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom.
Reports from the New York Times indicate that Russian troops, who once occupied many areas of southern Ukraine, left behind a number of mines and booby traps. Ukrainian sappers continue to survey and clear land mines to restore normalcy to the region, particularly in the Kherson region.
Open-source data collected by HALO has indicated that nearly 200 civilians have been killed in mining accidents since the war started. However, this is likely to be a significant underestimate. Cluster munitions, which the Russian forces have used to shell liberated territories, can potentially spread unexploded bomblets over a large area.
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