The Croatian government at a meeting on Monday donated EUR1 million to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to help farmers and food producers from Ukraine resume operations in regions most affected by explosive remnants of war.
According to the WFP website on Monday, the agreement was signed by Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman and Matthew Hollingworth, acting UN Humanitarian Aid Coordinator in Ukraine, in the presence of Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko.
“The project aims to survey productive agricultural land for mines and other explosives, clear them where necessary and release them safely to restore food production and support the livelihoods of rural communities. The project will also support farmers in rehabilitating soils and restoring their agricultural production once the land has been declared safe,” the report said.
Work is already underway in Kharkiv Oblast and is planned for Mykolaiv and Kherson Oblasts. The project has been developed and is being implemented in close cooperation with the Ukrainian government as well as local authorities.
“The Government of Ukraine has identified demining as one of the five key priorities for the rapid recovery of the country as it relates to the safety of people, restoring fully functioning agricultural enterprises and establishing food supply chains… We are actively working with our international partners to launch the humanitarian demining market in Ukraine, procure specialized equipment, train deminers, certify private demining operators, establish a local
According to her, the funds raised under a joint memorandum with Croatia and UN partners “will be used to survey and clean up contaminated land, which potentially amounts to 174,000 square kilometers in Ukraine.”
“During our meeting, we emphasized the critical importance of demining for the resumption of economic and social activities in Ukraine. Realizing the urgent need to address mines and explosive remnants of war, we reiterate our commitment to work hand in hand to bring about positive change in the affected regions,” said Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordoni Hirlićem-Radman.
Hollingworth, for his part, noted Croatia’s experience in conducting successful large-scale demining operations, which “makes it a recognized leader in humanitarian demining and an invaluable partner in helping to free up land for Ukrainian farmers who desperately want to resume work and feed their families and communities.”
Croatia will host the International Donor Conference on Humanitarian Demining in Ukraine on October 11 and 12 in Zagreb. The conference will provide a platform to mobilize additional international support and resources for demining initiatives in Ukraine.
Ukraine is the most mined country in the world, it may take 757 years to completely demine its territories if it is handled by 500 teams of specialists who are working in the country now, The Washington Post writes.
“According to a recent report by Slovakian think tank GLOBSEC, about 30% of Ukraine’s territory (more than 67,000 square kilometers) has been severely affected by munitions and will require time-consuming, expensive and dangerous demining operations,” the article says.
Referring to the GLOBSEC data, the publication notes that “Ukraine has become the largest mined territory in the world, surpassing Afghanistan and Syria”.
The Washington Post also writes that the international non-profit organization HALO Trust, which deals with mine clearance, based on information from open sources has tracked more than 2,300 incidents on the territory of Ukraine, during which munitions requiring clearance were found.
In addition, from the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 through July 2023, the United Nations has documented 298 civilian deaths from explosive remnants of war, including 22 children, and 632 civilian injuries.
“Ukraine’s contaminated territory is so large that some experts estimate that humanitarian cleanup will take the roughly 500 demining teams currently working 757 years,” The Washington Post summarized.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/
Humanitarian demining of Ukrainian lands will take place with the help of the latest technology – sappers will start using special anti-mine drones, which will soon be delivered to Ukraine.
According to the website of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine on Thursday, this was agreed during a meeting between First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko and American investor Howard Buffett.
“We understand that the process of clearing Ukrainian land will stretch for years. Therefore the Government is trying to speed it up as much as possible. We have agreed on the participation of Howard Buffett’s team in the long-term project of humanitarian demining of our lands. Innovative designs for this task are already in the works. The Buffett Foundation has experience in this, because for many years it has conducted similar projects in Colombia. He also promised that he will systematically help Ukrainian agribusiness to get rid of the consequences of Russian aggression”, – said Sviridenko.
According to Buffett, his foundation is ready to work together with the Ukrainian government and support government projects to significantly speed up humanitarian demining. As part of the cooperation, he has promised to procure demining machines, as well as to use such innovative solutions as special drones for demining in this process.
He also said that he is ready to help hold the Russian Federation accountable for crimes that have damaged Ukraine’s agricultural sector. Several relevant lawsuits have already been sent to the international court.
In turn, Sviridenko said that the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine has launched a special project to work out the methodology and scale the latest drone technology to accelerate demining.
“Howard Buffett will actively participate in the issue of acceleration of demining of Ukraine, and will use its contacts and capabilities to find like-minded people in the world who joined the issue of humanitarian demining,” – said Deputy Prime Minister.
The Netherlands will provide Ukrainian farmers with EUR10 million for the demining of agricultural land and EUR40 million for the purchase of seeds and agricultural equipment as part of a total package of EUR180 million in aid to Ukraine, members of the Dutch Parliament’s Agriculture Committee said at a meeting in the Verkhovna Rada.
“We would welcome the Netherlands’ assistance in demining to speed up this process. After all, this is one of the most pressing problems of farmers, especially in the southern and eastern regions,” said Oleksandr Haidu, head of the Parliamentary Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy.
He suggested paying attention to projects to restore and modernize irrigation and drainage systems, expanding new logistics routes with the EU to help Ukrainian farmers export agricultural products.
The United States will provide Ukraine with $89 million to deploy 100 demining teams, US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said.
“Mines, unexploded ordnance, other explosive objects block agricultural land, delay recovery, prevent people from returning home, kill, maim innocent Ukrainians. Therefore, we are providing $ 89 million for Ukraine to deploy 100 demining teams and make the country safer,” – wrote the ambassador on Twitter.
270,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory need demining, according to the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
“If we talk about quantity, today we understand that it is necessary to clear about 270,000 square kilometers of mines. This includes the occupied territories,” said the head of the department Denis Monastyrsky on Friday during the All-Ukrainian telethon.
According to him, the Ministry of Internal Affairs directs the subdivisions of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine to conduct primary operational demining within a year. “In simple words, the road between settlements should be cleared of mines, the settlement, adjacent territories, as well as areas around settlements should be completely cleared of mines. But complete demining, which includes roads, forest belts, reservoirs, will take years,” Monastyrsky stressed.
As for relaxing on the beaches, the minister warned that swimming in most reservoirs in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions is dangerous due to the presence of explosive devices. According to him, local authorities independently determine whether it is possible to swim in certain reservoirs. He also stressed that the study of reservoirs requires special professional equipment, which is scarce in Ukraine, and urged Ukrainians not to visit reservoirs yet because of mine danger.
“We turned to our international partners-colleagues from the European Union. They will help us both with teams that will come from abroad and directly with the equipment for such demining,” Monastyrsky said.
