Ukraine has a plan for mine clearance for sowing

An action plan for mine clearance of agricultural land for the sowing campaign was approved on Monday, 20 March, following the results of the meeting of the National Mine Action Authority.

Source: Press service of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry

Thus, the simplified procedure for obtaining a permit for carrying out explosive operations during demining and using explosive materials by mine action operators for the period of martial law was proven.

In addition, the procedures for recognising foreign documents on the qualification of mine disposal specialists and their compliance with national requirements have been elaborated.

First and foremost, survey and demining activities will be carried out in the areas where the problem of contamination is most urgent, and the clearing of agricultural land is most economically feasible.

Over 470,900 hectares of land are to be surveyed and, if necessary, cleared from explosive devices.

First and foremost, mine clearance efforts will be focused on low-contaminated land with perennial plantations or land planned for sowing vegetable and melon crops.

Specifically, the approved plan envisages humanitarian mine-clearing efforts in Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernihiv and Cherkasy oblasts.

At the same time, the most economically feasible approach was to focus on mine clearance priorities on agricultural land in Mykolaiv and Cherkasy oblasts.

The plan provides for three categories of contamination density, which affect the time required to survey and clean up the areas:

• low, i.e., the territories where there were no hostilities, but there is a possibility of finding explosive hazards;
• medium, i.e., the territories that were subject to constant bombardments, and actions of military formations and where there is a high probability of detecting explosive hazards;
• high, i.e., the territories near the contact line, for which there is information on deployed minefields and the use of remote mining equipment.

Following the meeting of the Defence Ministry, it was determined that local military administrations should ensure that spring fieldwork is carried out and that the land plots cleared of mines are used.

Background:

As a result of hostilities, more than 5 million hectares, or 50,000 square kilometres, of agricultural land are currently unusable due to mining, contamination with explosive remnants or ongoing fighting.

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