Humanitarian Demining in Ukraine Increases by 50% Over the Past Year
Ukraine has significantly scaled up its humanitarian demining efforts, with the volume of cleared and certified safe land increasing by nearly 50% compared to last year, according to the Ministry of Defense.
As of early June, 108 operators have been officially certified to carry out mine action operations across the country. The figures were shared during a roundtable discussion by Colonel Oleh Shuvarskyi, head of the Mine Action Directorate under the Ministry of Defense.
“In addition, Ukraine has already implemented five National Standards in the field of mine action, and the quality control of demining operations has been significantly strengthened,” Shuvarskyi noted.
Since the beginning of 2025 alone, 241 sites with a total area of 32 square kilometers have undergone inspection by quality assurance teams, which are now being expanded with support from multiple government bodies.
Despite these advances, the scale of the challenge remains daunting. Ukraine is currently the most heavily mined country in the world. According to data from 2024, approximately 156,000 km² of Ukrainian territory was considered potentially contaminated with explosive ordnance—an area roughly the size of the U.S. state of Georgia.
Of this, about 139,000 km² remain contaminated, including 14,000 km² of water bodies. Due to ongoing hostilities, humanitarian demining efforts can only proceed on 31,000 km² of accessible land at this time.
The presence of mines poses a serious risk to civilians and obstructs the economic recovery of vast regions, especially in the agricultural and infrastructure sectors.
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