Humanitarian demining, assessing the total environmental damage and holding russia accountable, and climate-friendly transformation of the Ukrainian economy. These and other important issues were discussed during a meeting between Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and foreign ambassadors as part of a working group on the practical implementation of the principles of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula in relation to its environmental security part.

The meeting was attended by Ambassador of Japan to Ukraine Kuninori Matsuda, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia Anica Djamić, Ambassador of Germany Martin Jäger, Ambassador of Brazil Norton de Andrade Mello Rapesta, Ambassador of Portugal António Vasco Alves Machado, Chargé d’Affaires of Canada Sean Boyd, Chargé d’Affaires of France Benjamin Roehrig, UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine Denise Brown and other representatives of the diplomatic corps. The meeting was also attended by Ruslan Strilets, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, and other representatives of the Ukrainian Government.

“One of the most important elements of the Peace Formula in terms of environmental security is the humanitarian demining of Ukrainian territory. As a result of the russian invasion, 174,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian land are potentially contaminated with explosive ordnance,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The Government estimates that nearly 2,500 cases of environmental damage caused by hostilities have been recorded since the start of the full-scale war. The total damage is estimated at EUR 52 billion.

The Government has embarked on an ambitious humanitarian demining programme. Over the next 10 years, 80% of the land potentially contaminated by explosive ordnance is to be brought back into use. But to do this, Ukraine needs the help of its partners.

“Our task now is to unite the efforts of the whole world to eliminate these problems, but above all to ensure that the experience of overcoming them forms the basis for peace-building. The key goals of environmental security under the Peace Formula are damage assessment, holding russia accountable and climate-friendly transformation of the Ukrainian economy,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The parties agreed on a common vision of how to restore Ukraine and on the first practical steps in this direction.