GRIT digital platform will be used for humanitarian demining planning

Ukraine has significantly increased its demining capabilities over the year, multiplying the number of mine action operators and demining machines by several times. This was stated by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal during the second Demine Ukraine forum, which took place on December 2 in Kyiv. By the end of the year, government and private operators have 151 humanitarian demining machines, and the number of sappers has grown to over 4 thousand people.

"We are grateful to all partners for providing demining machines, which are becoming more and more numerous. At the same time, we emphasize localization and the development of Ukrainian production. Ukrainian equipment and equipment of foreign companies manufactured in Ukraine are already working in the fields and demonstrate excellent results. We urge partners who want to help us with equipment to order the production of new machines precisely at Ukrainian enterprises. This will be a double help for us: both for the economy and for our security," said Denys Shmyhal at the opening of the event.

Another important achievement this year was the opening of the humanitarian demining market, thanks to which it was possible to involve private mine action operators in humanitarian demining. This was stated by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko, summarizing the results in the industry for the current year.

"To help agrarians, we launched a compensation mechanism for demining services and cover 100% of the cost of such work. Almost 31 auctions have already taken place in the Prozorro system, based on the results of which agreements worth almost half a billion hryvnias have been signed. We were able to achieve a drop in the initial price of more than 17%, saving about 92 million hryvnias. The program will also operate next year — 1 billion hryvnias are budgeted for it," noted Yuliia Svyrydenko.

One of the key tasks for the government and the Ministry of Economy is to support innovations in the field of humanitarian demining. New technologies like the use of drones with sensors to search for mines can become gamechangers in mine action, Yuliia Svyrydenko believes. Therefore, the Ministry of Economy will work to increase the number of grants for innovators next year.

The Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, Jaco Cilliers, noted that innovative technologies not only change the approach to mine action in Ukraine but also create a unique experience that can serve as an example for the whole world.

"UNDP in Ukraine, together with partners, will continue to strengthen the potential of such innovations, in particular Ukrainian ones, to ensure security in all communities and create conditions for people to return to their homes. So that every square meter of Ukrainian land becomes safe for life, work, and development," emphasized Jaco Cilliers.

In total, the forum brought together over 350 participants, including representatives of the government, international organizations, businesses, non-governmental initiatives, as well as demining experts. During thematic panels, they discussed the economic effect of demining, technologies and innovations in mine action, the production of demining equipment, etc.

You can watch the broadcast of each panel of the Forum by following the link.

The partners of the Demine Ukraine Forum were the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, FUIB, Kyivstar, Uklon, Starlightmedia, the American Chamber of Commerce, and the European Business Association.