Ihor Bezkaravainyi: Thanks to GRIT, we switch to digital planning in demining
When developing the Humanitarian Demining Plan for 2026, the capabilities of the GRIT digital platform were used for the first time as part of an experimental project. This was done to compile a list of agricultural areas to be cleared under the Plan. The total area of such land is 5,312 hectares, and the Humanitarian Demining Centre will purchase demining services at the expense of the state. The plan was approved during the final meeting of the National Mine Action Authority.
"For us, this is a pilot project for automated prioritisation based on the GRIT system in real conditions. It is also an additional tool that will allow us to increase the amount of agricultural land returned to use and involve more Mine Action operators in the work within the framework of the humanitarian demining budget programme. At the same time, as before, priority for clearance under the state compensation programme remains with areas requested by farmers and households," said Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture, Ihor Bezkaravainyi.
The team working with the GRIT platform mapped the sites of potentially contaminated areas on privately owned agricultural land. Most of these sites are located in Kharkiv region — 329 out of 458.
The system then determined the potential of each such plot according to four criteria: economic, social, environmental and safety.
This resulted in five priority levels, with the first being the highest priority and the fifth being the lowest priority among those included in the plan. In total, the pilot project includes sites in Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv regions.
Background information
GRIT (Ground Rehabilitation through Innovation Technologies) is a digital platform for planning, prioritising and monitoring humanitarian demining, powered by tech giant Palantir. The platform currently uses more than 25 datasets from public and commercial registers, satellite data, operator data, etc., and plans to further expand its capabilities next year.