On 13 October, at a government meeting Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine has allocated about €500 million (about $525 mn) for mine clearance.
According to the Prime Minister, a conference on humanitarian demining was held in Zagreb with the participation of more than 40 states this week.
Shmyhal said that including the previous support packages, about €500 million (about $525 mn) have been raised for demining for Ukraine. In particular, about $105 mn was raised from Switzerland, about $21 mn from Norway, $13 mn from Sweden, $5,2 mn from Croatia, $ 2,1 mn from Austria.
As per Shmyhal, the funds will be used to purchase survey equipment, demining equipment, and sapper outfits. In addition, additional assistance will be equipment and expert support.
He added that Ukraine has signed a cooperation agreement with Croatia on demining. In particular, it concerns land clearance, public education, development of mine action standards, training of Ukrainian specialists, and development of production facilities.
Switzerland initiated the second donor conference on humanitarian demining next year.
According to the Ministry of Defense, there are 349 possibly mined areas in Ukraine. Half of them are agricultural lands. Among them, 470 000 hectares of potentially contaminated agricultural land are prioritized for demining.
Demining is carried out by government agencies (SSTS, SES, National Guard, National Police), as well as 144 groups of non-governmental organizations with a total of about 600 specialists. It costs $100 000-150 000 to equip one group of 10 sappers.
About one hundred brigades are involved in the process of demining the de-occupied territories, clearing tens of thousands of hectares every day.
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