Mine Clearance in Ukraine May Take from Five to Ten Years

Based on international experience, mine clearance of Ukrainian territories may take from five to ten years.

“Russians use remote mining systems, set unguided minefields in populated localities, and leave a large number of particularly dangerous, specially planted explosive devices,” Oleh Bondar, Head of the Pyrotechnic Works and Humanitarian Demining Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, said during a briefing.

According to him, these mines and ammunition have been discovered in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolayiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions.

“The total number of various mines, cluster munitions, and specially installed explosive devices is about 10% of all detected and neutralised explosive devices,” Bondar added.

He also said that awareness-raising work with citizens is carried out on a regular basis in order to protect the civilian population in case of detection of explosive devices.

Over the past 24 hours, pyrotechnic units of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine detected, removed and neutralised 1,595 explosive devices, including five aviation bombs.

Most often, pyrotechnicians worked in the Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolayiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions.

Since the beginning of the Russian large-scale military invasion, 104,271 explosive devices and 593.4 kg of explosives, including 1,972 aviation bombs, have been neutralised.

One day earlier, Latvia announced a decision to send its sapper specialists to Ukraine to dispose of unexploded ordnance. Official Riga also called on other countries to join the initiative.

Bohdan Marusyak