The scope of work related to humanitarian demining of the territory of Ukraine is such that it can be done in a short time only with the full support of our international partners and coordination of efforts of Ukraine and its allies. This was stated by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, in her speech at the Humanitarian Demining Conference in Kyiv on March 3.

“We need a ‘demining Ramstein’, constant and long-term coordination with donors in many areas – financing, technical equipment, methodological assistance, etc. Today, we have approximately 2.6 million hectares of potentially contaminated agricultural areas alone. The task of demining such areas is extremely difficult, but we must solve it as a matter of priority.

The established Interagency Working Group on Humanitarian Demining is currently working on a set of measures to organize humanitarian demining in a short time. We are developing a market design – solutions that would allow private and public operators to work efficiently. We are striving to create the most favorable conditions for attracting more operators,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

Ukraine is a guarantor of food security for 400 million people worldwide. Therefore, the issue of humanitarian demining of Ukrainian land is of global importance. By now, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Croatia, and Italy have provided millions of dollars to finance humanitarian demining projects, training and equipping our units.

Yet, it is obvious that the needs are much greater. Equipping a single unit of the State Emergency Service alone costs USD 1.8 million. At the same time, hundreds of such units are needed to speed up demining.

According to Yuliia Svyrydenko, the state has to solve a number of issues to organize humanitarian demining. The possibility of strengthening the functionality of the relevant services within the Ministry of Defense and the State Emergency Service is currently being considered. At the same time, Ukraine is interested in engaging experienced foreign companies.

The key tasks are to reduce the cost of such services as much as possible by market methods, i.e. through competition. And to coordinate the efforts of government agencies, international organizations, and private contractors working in Ukraine in the field of humanitarian demining.