Ukraine needs ten times the number of specialists trained to international standards to carry out humanitarian demining. That is why the Government expects partner countries to help train deminers. This was stated by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, in an address at the International Summit of Cities and Regions, held within the framework of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine.

“Nearly 174,000 square kilometres of land in Ukraine are potentially contaminated. This is the land that provides food for some 81 million people around the world. This is a huge amount of work, which Ukraine can only do with extremely effective organisation and only with the help of the international community,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

According to the First Deputy Prime Minister, an action plan has been drawn up to clear agricultural land of mines. Priority economic regions have been identified, a map of potentially hazardous areas has been approved, and clear and transparent criteria for the phasing of demining have been established. A total of 470,000 hectares of agricultural land will be surveyed and cleared of mines.

The largest area of contaminated land is in the south and east of Ukraine. More than 208,000 hectares need to be surveyed in Kherson region, almost 160,000 hectares in Kharkiv region, and more than 85,000 hectares in Mykolaiv region.

All of this requires significant funding. The World Bank estimates that the full range of humanitarian demining activities could cost USD 37.4 billion. Preliminary estimates suggest that USD 1.5 billion is needed for priority survey and clearance of agricultural land alone.

The First Deputy Prime Minister invited international partners to join the humanitarian demining effort and take over patronage of designated areas.

“We must solve this problem together to save the world from a food crisis and people’s lives from mortal danger,” concluded Yuliia Svyrydenko.