In February, the demining units of the State Emergency Service, the State Special Transport Service, and non-governmental operators surveyed more than 32,000 hectares of agricultural land. In total, 53,700 hectares of land have been inspected since the beginning of the year. This was announced by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy of Ukraine, citing data from regional military administrations.

“February is the shortest month of the year. However, this did not prevent our deminers from inspecting almost one and a half times more agricultural land than in January. To some extent, the weather contributed to this, but for the most part, it is the result of joint efforts to strengthen the capabilities of the units and organise their work. As a result, more than 53,700 surveyed lands in two months, which is a significant contribution of deminers before the start of the new agricultural season,” Yuliia Svyrydenko said.

The largest area of agricultural land in two months of the year was surveyed in the Kherson oblast – 49,800 hectares. In the Mykolaiv oblast, 2,200 hectares were surveyed, and in the Kharkiv oblast – 1,300 hectares. Land in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv oblasts were also surveyed.

According to First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economy of Ukraine, the Government is continuing to work on strengthening the capacity of operators, focusing primarily on equipping units with domestically produced machinery and equipment. Optimisation and efficient organisation of mine action processes are also on the agenda.

“We have recently signed an agreement with Palantir, a technology company. Advanced technologies in the field of big data analysis and AI will help us better organise mine action processes. Last week, together with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, we held a workshop to develop an operational plan for the National Mine Action Strategy. Our international partners, relevant Ukrainian government agencies and operators were invited to participate. Therefore, we continue to work together to accelerate the clearance of the territory of Ukraine,” Yuliia Svyrydenko said.