Humanitarian De-mining: An Innovation Platform Appears in Ukraine.

In February, mine action operators continued to work on clearing territories under agreements within the state program for compensating de-mining of agricultural land.

According to Deputy Minister of Economy Igor Bezkaravayny, the farming enterprise GRAIS received 28.5 hectares of land cleared by the operator 'Humanitarian Safety'.

“We are preparing for more active work with the onset of warmer weather on already signed agreements and expanding the areas for which de-mining is compensated by the state. The Humanitarian De-mining Center has already announced the first auctions this year for the procurement of humanitarian de-mining services for agricultural land in the Prozorro system,” — said Igor Bezkaravayny.

According to the Deputy Minister of Economy, a significant event in February was the launch of the Innovation Platform for Humanitarian De-mining, which will become a place for accumulating, testing, and implementing the latest technologies in the field.

Also, last month, a new tool appeared in the humanitarian de-mining services market: manufacturers of de-mining machines are offering operators rental or leasing options. The first rental agreement was made between GCS Ukraine, which represents the Swiss-German manufacturer GCS, and the international operator Danish Church Aid.

“An important reference for us is the updated figure of the needs for de-mining territories, as stated in the published February “Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA4)”. Compared to the previous assessment, the needs have decreased by almost 5 billion dollars. This indicates that the work being done by Ukraine and its partners in the area of humanitarian de-mining is yielding results,” — noted Igor Bezkaravayny.