Ukraine needs 1000 demining brigades to destroy all explosives on its territory – defense minister
Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. Photo by Rubryka
There are currently 200 brigades of sappers working under Ukraine's Ministry of Defense. The institution plans to multiply this number fivefold and is currently seeking funding.
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced this during the conference hosted by Ukrainian Hromadske media "We are building already!".
Today, the Ministry of Defense employs 200 teams of sappers. But we plan to increase it at least five times – up to a thousand. We are looking for resources for this," he said.
According to him, Ukrainian forces need to check approximately 174,000 square kilometers of land to destroy potentially explosive objects. There are places where the territories are totally polluted.
After studying the experience of other countries (Croatia, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka), we understand that their demining models are no longer suitable for us, because we would have to demine the territory for 100-150 years, he emphasized.
In May, the Command of the Support Forces reported that approximately 6,000 servicemen were trained in Ukraine's forces and received the "sapper" specialty.
The press service also noted that the units are fully staffed with sappers. All servicemen who have undergone training in this specialty perform tasks related to repelling Russia's armed aggression.
Earlier, the State Emergency Service suggested that it would take 5 to 10 years to completely demine Ukraine. Humanitarian demining, in contrast to operational and combat, involves a comprehensive inspection of the entire territory where hostilities continued.
To solve the issue, the defense ministry intends, with the support of the United States, to create a modern sapper training center that will train 500 specialists in humanitarian demining per year. Ukraine is also planning to launch its own production of demining machines.
