Since the beginning of the year, sappers have inspected, cleared of mines and handed over more than 200,000 hectares of fertile land to farmers. Of these, more than 20,000 hectares were handed over to farmers in August. This was announced by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, during the TBI (Tony Blair Institute) & HGBF (Howard G. Buffett Foundation) “Demining Ukraine” Report Launch event in Kyiv.
“By clearing land from mines and explosives, our sappers are bringing life back to the de-occupied and frontline territories. People get the opportunity to work on their land, and regions get the opportunity to develop. Therefore, we are systematically accelerating the pace of work. We are helping to increase the number of demining vehicles and sappers, as well as the number of mine action operators. Now there are 53 of them in Ukraine, almost twice as many as at the beginning of the year,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.
Before handing over the land to farmers, mine action operators inspect it, and if they find mines or unexploded ordnance, they clear it or demine it.
In total, mine action operators have surveyed more than 224,000 hectares since the beginning of the year, including almost 23,400 hectares in August.
Most of the land has been surveyed in the following areas:
– Kherson region: 17,600 hectares in August, 184,500 hectares since the beginning of the year;
– Kharkiv region: 2,400 hectares in August, 17,500 hectares since the beginning of the year;
– Mykolaiv region: 1,100 hectares in August, 12,100 hectares since the beginning of the year. (Government portal)