Infrastructural, energy and social facilities, as well as agricultural land are priority areas for humanitarian demining in Ukraine. The Government is intensifying cooperation with international partners in the field of demining, in particular, in surveying contaminated lands, purchasing special equipment and involving foreign mine action operators.

This was discussed today, April 4, during the online meeting of First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine - Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko with Vice Prime Minister - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Croatia Davor Božinović.

“Early reconstruction has already begun in Ukraine, starting with residential buildings, and demining is an integral part of this process. In total, about 2,000 demining specialists work for state institutions and 600 specialists - for private operators in Ukraine. Given the large scope of work, we need at least twice as many sappers,” Yuliia Svyrydenko said.

She emphasized that humanitarian demining is one of the top priorities of the Government. In Ukraine, there is a great demand for special machinery and equipment for demining, but the market for such machinery is quite limited. Croatia, in turn, has its own production of such equipment. The Government is interested in cooperation with Croatia in the field of humanitarian demining, using Croatia’s experience and expertise in land demining.

Thus, the Center for Humanitarian Demining, the purpose of which is to coordinate international aid, determine priorities and distribute demining tasks among operators working throughout the country, has been established in Ukraine. The Government plans to involve representatives of the Republic of Croatia, G7 countries and other interested international organizations in the Supervisory Board of the Center.

 “We face a challenge, because we need more sappers, machinery and equipment for demining, drones for surveying land, training for sappers. We are currently working on waiving registration and certification procedures to open the Ukrainian market to international mine action operators. We need to be proactive in this matter and use new technologies to speed up the process of cleaning Ukrainian lands from the consequences of the armed aggression of the rf,” Yuliia Svyrydenko added.

In turn, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Davor Božinović noted that demining of Croatian lands, which has been ongoing since 1995, is almost complete. Croatia is open to cooperation, is ready to share its experience and continue to provide the necessary assistance in this matter.