State Emergency Service: mine clearance in Ukraine may take up to 10 years
Anastasiya Kalatur - Thursday, 12 May 2022, 04:30
Mine clearance in Ukraine could take 5-10 years.
Source: Oleh Bondar, Head of the Pyrotechnic Operations and Humanitarian Demining Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, quoted by Ukrinform
Details: The Russians are using remote mining systems, laying unguided minefields in settlements and leaving behind a large number of particularly dangerous deliberately installed explosive devices. These are lethal to civilians.
These mines and ammunition have been found in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.
The total number of various mines, cluster munitions and deliberately installed explosive devices is about 10% of all explosives detected and disposed of.
Background:
- According to preliminary UN estimates, Ukraine is one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world.
- About 300,000 square kilometres of Ukraine's territory needs humanitarian mine clearance due to the large amount of munitions left behind by Russian forces.
- Due to large-scale minelaying by Russians, a very large area of fields in Ukraine cannot yet be used for agricultural purposes.
