The total amount of pledges to help Ukraine with humanitarian demining, confirmed on Wednesday by participants of the first such special high-level international donor conference in Zagreb, is almost EUR0.5 billion, said Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović.
“The 34 participating states expressed their clear political support for Ukraine in the field of mine action and maintained their political commitments… The total amount of these contributions is almost EUR0.5 billion,” he said at a briefing after the first day of the conference.
According to him, additional contributions have been and will be made in the form of equipment, materials and expert assistance.
“Some countries have also made commitments that will be implemented in cooperation with international organizations, such as the United Nations Development Program,” Bozhynovych added.
He emphasized that the conference made it clear that Ukraine’s partners will join forces and act together at the national, European and international levels to identify as soon as possible the threats to the status quo posed by mines and explosive remnants of war.
“We emphasize the importance of using the most modern technologies, knowledge and experience, fully realizing that this is vital for the safety of Ukrainian citizens, as well as for the economic, social, environmental and all other aspects of post-war recovery and development of Ukraine,” said the Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
He reminded that the EU Council is currently discussing a 4-year EUR 50 billion Ukraine Facility program to help Ukraine, and once approved, it will be very important to allocate part of these funds for demining.
“We hope that the conference that took place today confirmed these expectations and that it will be properly reflected in the upcoming rounds of negotiations in the Council and approved by the European Commission,” added Bozhynovych.
He also welcomed Switzerland’s announcement to organize, as a follow-up to the Zagreb event, the next international donor conference on humanitarian demining in Ukraine next October in Geneva.
On Thursday, the second day of the conference, there will be an expert discussion of detailed demining measures and activities in Ukraine.
According to a study conducted by the World Bank, the Ukrainian government, the European Commission and the UN, the cost of humanitarian demining in the year after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion was estimated at over EUR34 billion out of the total cost of reconstruction and recovery of EUR383 billion. At the same time, the full extent of the contamination remains unclear due to the ongoing hostilities and occupation of the territory.
In the spring, the Ukrainian government estimated the priority funding needs for humanitarian demining this year at $400 million.
