Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar and one of the largest volunteer foundations “Come Back Alive” have accumulated UAH 54.8 million as part of the fundraising for demining of Ukraine’s territories “We Live Here 2.0”.
“Demining of territories remains a critical issue to restore safe life in Ukraine. We plan to close the urgent needs of demining units to the amount of UAH 100 million, providing them with modern Ukrainian equipment,” Taras Chmut, director of the ‘Back Alive’ fund, was quoted as saying in a press release on Tuesday.
Kyivstar clarified that UAH 17.8 million of the mentioned amount was collected at the expense of subscribers who connected the charitable Superpower “Aid to the AFU” or SMS-subscription.
To support the collection, directly the mobile operator transferred 30 million UAH of its own funds.
“We are grateful to everyone who supported the initiative and made a contribution to demining the country, our goal is 100 million UAH. We call on all those who are not indifferent to join the initiative and support the sappers”, – commented CEO of ‘Kyivstar’ Alexander Komarov.
It is noted that the collected funds will be used to provide sappers of the AFU Support Force with Ukrainian-made robotic complexes, transportation and communications.
According to him, the collection includes the transfer of 16 reconnaissance and logistics robotic complexes “Tarakan” (64 vehicles), 8 robotic complexes “Termit” (32 vehicles), 28 vehicles, 4 maintenance workshops, 28 REB vehicles, 100 radios of various types, 1 Vampire drone with thermal imaging cameras for remote demining, as well as 96 drones of various types for sappers’ awareness and related equipment.
It is specified that also the first Ukrainian superpop for dog and cat owners – Bubibo – joined the collection, which within the framework of the project collects UAH 1 million and attracts cats and dogs to support the deminers.
Swiss company LLC Global Clearance Solutions Ukraine will join the demining of territories in Kyiv region, the press service of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration (KOVA) reports.
As reported, the relevant Memorandum was signed by the head of KOVA Ruslan Kravchenko and the CEO of the Swiss company “LLC Global Clearance Solutions Ukraine” Dmitry Salimonov. This is a company by engineering and production facilities in Germany and representative offices around the world.
“After the fighting in the de-occupied territories of Kyivshchyna, there are a lot of explosive objects left. There are great dangers for the civilian population. Specialists of the State Emergency Situations Service continue demining works, but exclusively the forces of Ukrainian specialists and budget funds are not enough. Therefore, we attract certified operators, as well as funding from international partners, so that demining does not stretch for many years. Another important issue is the proper amount of professional equipment,” Kravchenko explained.
It is noted that the Swiss company provides a wide range of mine action assistance, in particular project management, consulting, survey and cleanup, capacity building, and training.
One of the world leaders in the field of robotic systems for humanitarian demining, the Croatian company DOK-ING, has opened an office in Kyiv, which will help coordinate mine action efforts between Ukraine and Croatia, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko said during the opening ceremony.
“We highly appreciate the support provided by Croatia to Ukraine. There are 45 Croatian DOK-ING demining machines currently operating in Ukraine, which have helped clear over a thousand hectares of Ukrainian land. I hope that the opening of the office in Kyiv will be the beginning of even closer cooperation, and our sappers will be able to learn in Ukraine how to operate and maintain these machines,” the press service of the Ministry of Economy quoted her as saying.
The Ministry of Economy noted that Ukraine is one of the key users of DOK-ING demining machines. The State Emergency Service (SES) uses DOK-ING equipment the most. Its fleet includes 10 MV-4 light demining vehicles and 14 MV-10 heavy demining vehicles. Croatian demining machines are also used by the State Special Transport Service (SSTS), humanitarian demining operators and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Of the 45 DOK-ING machines operating in Ukraine, 8 are manufactured at a Ukrainian plant that is a partner of the Croatian company.
“It is very important for us that some of the DOK-ING equipment is manufactured in Ukraine, as it means new jobs and additional budget revenues and support for the economy. In addition, manufacturing equipment in Ukraine reduces delivery time and facilitates logistics when repairs are needed. All of this ultimately accelerates the pace of demining and saves millions of lives,” Svyrydenko added.
The Ukrainian company A3TECH carries out large-scale assembly of DOK-ING demining machines with partial localization: part of the working body is already produced in Ukraine and by the end of the year the company is ready to increase the level of its localization to 100%. In 2024, the company produced eight localized MV-10 heavy demining machines, six of which have already been handed over to the SES.
DOK-ING produces both light and heavy robotic demining and explosive ordnance disposal machines. Due to their low profile and robust design, these vehicles are resistant to anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordnance detonations and can withstand an anti-tank mine explosion. DOK-ING vehicles are controlled by a remote control with a range of up to 1500 meters.
Currently, already 30 thousand square kilometers of de-occupied territories of Ukraine are recognized as such, which do not contain evidence of contamination by explosive objects, it is more than 17% of the preliminary assessment of contamination, reported in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
“Today, thanks to our joint work, the area of contaminated territories has already decreased by 30 thousand square kilometers. This means that in these territories were not found or were neutralized detected explosive objects,” – said the head of the Main Department of mine action, civil protection and environmental safety of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Colonel Ruslan Beregulia.
He also emphasized that now the most contaminated remain Kherson, Kharkiv and Mykolayiv regions, where more than 50% of all incidents with explosive objects among civilians have occurred.
According to the colonel, while carrying out demining activities, a comprehensive approach is applied, which, among other things, provides for chemical analysis of soils of agricultural lands for the presence of hazardous substances.
The head of the Main Department of Mine Action also noted that now 78 mechanized demining vehicles of both domestic and foreign production are used for demining of de-occupied territories from explosive objects by demining groups of security and defense forces, as well as by mine action operators.
The ministry recalled that initially the area of potentially explosive contaminated de-occupied territories in Ukraine was estimated at 174 thousand square kilometers, of which 14 thousand square kilometers are water areas.
Kyivstar, the largest electronic communications operator, and SHERIFF, a holding of security companies, including SHERIFF Demining, which is a certified mine action operator, have signed a memorandum of cooperation.
Ukraine is currently the most mined country in the world. According to the State Emergency Service, about 175 thousand square kilometers of territory are contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance. That is why Kyivstar and SHERIFF Demining are starting to work on a technology for humanitarian demining operators.
The companies will jointly test RTK signal correction services, which will ensure high accuracy of mapping contaminated areas and marking explosive objects.
“Helping to rebuild the country is an important mission not only for Kyivstar, but also for the entire Ukrainian business. To speed up the process of demining and rebuilding the country, we are ready to share our experience in implementing the latest technologies that will save lives of Ukrainians,” comments Ilya Poltakov, Kyivstar’s Director of New Business Development. “In particular, for safe demining it is important to ensure the identification of the exact coordinates of mines and the boundaries of contaminated areas. This requires high-quality GNSS equipment with RTK technology support.”
Kyivstar will provide its partners with access to RTK technology and provide recommendations on the selection and use of GNSS receivers. The company’s specialists will also conduct analytical research to test positioning and location technologies.
“We expect that cooperation with Kyivstar will help us to significantly improve the accuracy of explosive ordnance detection and subsequent demining. This will allow us to clean up contaminated areas faster and safer and return them to peaceful life,” commented Yevhen Antypenko, SHERIFF Director.
About Kyivstar
Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian electronic communications operator, which as of December 2023 served about 24 million mobile subscribers and more than 1.1 million Home Internet subscribers. The company provides services using a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 4G, Big Data, Cloud solutions, RTK cybersecurity services, digital TV, etc. Kyivstar is developing new telecom technologies in Ukraine and plans to invest USD 600 million in this area over the next three years. The company is helping the country overcome the challenges of wartime and has allocated over UAH 1.8 billion over the past two years to support the Armed Forces, subscribers, local communities, and charitable initiatives. The sole shareholder of Kyivstar is the international VEON Group headquartered in the Netherlands. The Group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ (New York) and Euronext (Amsterdam) stock exchanges. Kyivstar has been operating in Ukraine for more than 25 years and is recognized as the largest taxpayer in the telecom market, the best employer and a socially responsible company.
For more information: pr@kyivstar.net, www.kyivstar.ua
About SHERIFF
SHERIFF Security Holding is a national security operator that has been operating in Ukraine since 2003 and is a leader in the security services market. The company offers the maximum portfolio of services in its field: demining (certified mine action operator), a license to provide collection services and a NBU permit for a cash processing and transfer center, physical security, fire alarm maintenance and monitoring, fire extinguisher recharging, installation of video surveillance systems (including analytical systems) and access control, monitoring and response to burglar alarms, as well as Transfer customer support services, cargo escort, armored taxi, and other services. More than 40,000 clients have entrusted their security to SHERIFF.
For more information: pr@sheriff.com.ua, www.sheriff.com.ua
The work of the non-governmental National Association for Humanitarian Demining has been launched in Ukraine, its head Meri Hakobyan said on Monday during the presentation of the association.
“The key mission of the association will be to promote the rapid and professional clearance of Ukraine’s territories of explosive hazards with the involvement of all interested stakeholders, including mine clearance equipment manufacturers, accredited demining operators, and government agencies,” she said.
Among the main directions of Hakobyan’s activity she singled out joining efforts and communication with state authorities on humanitarian demining, development of recommendations on improvement of normative-legal support in the sphere of humanitarian demining, assistance in improving the quality of professional training of industry specialists, development, discussion and making proposals on reasonable types of classifiers, standards, operational reliability and safety of demining, raising public awareness,
The primary task of the Association will be the preparation of the state professional standard of the new profession “Humanitarian Demining Deminer”, as well as the creation of a system and methodology for training such deminers, preparation of amendments to the law of Ukraine on “Mine Action” and communication with the media.
As Deputy Minister of Economy Ihor Bezkaravaynyy emphasized, the National Association for Humanitarian Demining is an initiative coming from business and civil society and may become a precondition for the formation of a demining market in the state.
In particular, he said, there are currently 32 humanitarian demining operators in the country, of which about 20 are Ukrainian in the status of Limited Liability Companies.
“This shows that the Ukrainian business goes into the sphere of demining, is ready to invest resources, money, to develop in this direction and develop the market,” – said the Deputy Minister.
In turn, the Ambassador of Japan in Ukraine Kuninori Matsuda said that one of the priorities of the Japanese government is precisely the provision of assistance to Ukraine in the field of humanitarian demining.
“We have been working with the Cambodian demining center for 25 years. We have developed many methodologies and will share our own developments and technologies with Ukraine … Japan will support the entire Ukrainian demining sector until the last mine in Ukraine is cleared,” he said.
He recalled that the Japanese government has already transferred to Ukraine 30 special tractors, dozens of wagons and pickup trucks to locate mines and another 22 special mine clearance vehicles will be transferred in June this year.
Ruslan Beregulya, head of the Main Directorate of Mine Action of the Defense Ministry, said that 950 people have been affected by explosive objects since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Of these, 289 have died and 661 have been injured or maimed.
