Defence Ministry of Ukraine to increase number of sappers and produce its own demining machines

The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine plans to increase the number of sappers and involve 5000 Ukrainian bomb technicians, create a sapper training centre jointly with the American Tetra Tech company, and mobilise Ukrainian resources for manufacturing equipment for mine detection and disposal.

Source: Oleksandr Pavliuk, first deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine, in an interview for Ukrinform news agency

Quote: "As a result of Russia’s armed aggression, Ukraine became the most mine-contaminated country in the world. At the moment the territory is over 174,000 km2, out of which 14,000 are sea water areas, which correspond to one third of the territory of Ukraine.

These are all territories, in which combat action is or was ongoing, which are currently temporarily Russia-occupied, or which were struck with aircraft and missile attacks.

The area of the liberated territories, which is already being inspected, is 45,000 km2, out of which 17,000 km2 is agricultural land."

Details: Pavliuk states that the scale and density of contamination of Ukraine with explosives can be compared with that in Europe after the Second World War.

As a result, there is a high need of human resources, equipment and budget for examination and mine clearance.

Quote: "With the resources we have at the moment, it will take decades. It is unacceptable so the defence ministries are working on it non-stop. The demining of Ukraine must not become the challenge for our children, let alone our grandchildren.

According to the decision of the Ministry of Defence, only the Armed Forces and State Transport Special Service of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine plan to involve 5000 bomb technicians.

Such increase in the quantity of personnel and proper supply of it with modern mine detection devices, examination and mechanised demining for a safer work execution will significantly decrease time spent on the clearance of the Ukrainian land from explosives."

Details: Pavliuk stressed that even this will not be enough as the war is still ongoing. So Ukraine is increasing the number of sappers, creating sapper training centres relying on the experience of other countries, using modern equipment and means provided by the allies, and facilitating the production of necessary equipment by the Ukrainian manufacturers.

Ukraine has its own education institutions, which train bomb technicians, but it is not enough due to the scale of mine contamination. So the Ministry of Defence is constantly working to involve the allies and partner-states of Ukraine in the process.

One of the examples is the launch of a joint project with the US Tetra Tech company by the Ministry of Defence. Tetra Tech is acting on behalf of the US State Department.

Quote: "The result of our cooperation is the creation of a modern training centre able to prepare 500 humanitarian demining technicians a year. The sappers will be trained in accordance with the international standards and will have the opportunity to use the most modern methods and equipment for defusing the explosives.

During my meeting with the representatives of Tetra Tech we discussed not only establishing the training centre but also its uniqueness, as we did not have the opportunity to focus on training humanitarian demining specialists before. This project is a non-stop closed loop, within the framework of which people will train from beginner level to the highest possible level, EOD-3+."

Details: Pavliuk called modern robotised platforms and machines for mechanised demining one of the key needs for Ukraine. The machines are able to demine about 4,000-6,000km2 in one shift, while a single sapper is only able to demine 50 m2 per shift, manually and risking his/her life.

Pavliuk reported that currently, the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and State Special Transport Service of Ukraine, which are demining the liberated territories, are only covered by 10% within the framework of the international aid.

Recently, Pavliuk held the first interdepartmental meeting concerning the possibilities of Ukrainian companies to produce modern demining equipment.

"We focused on the achievements of Ukroboronprom (the Defence Industry of Ukraine – ed.) in the manufacture of demining machines on the basis of the T-64A tanks, the already existing manufacture of armoured vehicles for the transportation of explosives, as well as the production of the equipment needed by different anti-mine operators: from drones and means of manual demining to trawls and robotised platforms," the Deputy Defence Minister stated.

He added that "this is only the first basic stage" of work, and as many as possible of the Ukrainian enterprises must be involved.

The official added that according to World Bank estimates, humanitarian mine clearance in Ukraine will require a total of US$37 billion, with more than US$397 million needed this year alone.

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