Ukrainian sappers have cleared almost 10,000 hectares of agricultural land since beginning of Russia’s full-scale war

Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year, the sappers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have demined and cleared more than 9,992 hectares of agricultural land of explosive objects.

Sappers have removed and neutralized 120,846 explosives, Rubryka reports, citing the General Staff of the Ukrainian forces.

During the past week, specialists of the support forces command at the Ukrainian army examined and cleared one facility, about 860 hectares of agricultural land, and other territories of explosives, removing and neutralizing 3,168 items.

Rubryka reported that Ukraine became the most contaminated country in Europe after the start of the full-fledged Russian invasion in 2022. 

The area of Ukrainian land contaminated by mines, bombs, and shells has increased to 174,000 square kilometers, with more than 5 million Ukrainians living in these territories.

War-battered northern Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, southern Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and eastern Kharkiv, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions are the most mined, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service. It takes at least ten years to clear these areas.

"We need innovations, new approaches, and new standards in demining agricultural lands to return them to use as soon as possible," said Economy Minister Yulia Svyridenko. "That is why we are in constant dialogue with Ukrainian and international operators and are looking for these approaches." 

So far, Ukraine has acquired 20 demining machines, three of which are in the war-battered Kharkiv region, with about 3,000 demining specialists involved in the work. These capacities are insufficient to speed up the clearance of the country's territory from mines and explosives.

Rubryka reported that Ukraine launched a market for humanitarian demining services through the Prozorro platform.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is also negotiating with the Croatian DOK-ING and Slovakian Way Industries to put the production of mechanized demining machines in Ukraine.