Complete demining of Ukraine using traditional methods may take 100 years - UN

“With sustained efforts and improved technology, significant progress can be made in a few years, but with traditional demining methods, it can take hundreds of years to fully clear and certify all affected regions as safe, especially given the ongoing nature of conflict and contamination,” Noda said.

She noted that UNDP, in cooperation with technical partners and national authorities, is exploring the use of drones, technical service dogs, and other innovative technologies in humanitarian demining.

According to the UN representative, recent trials of innovative mine detection methods organized by UNDP in Ukraine have shown encouraging prospects in the detection of landmines and explosive remnants of war.

For example, the innovative teams achieved results of 78% when detecting objects on the surface, about 70% when detecting metal and buried objects, and 62% when detecting plastic objects.

Noda also says that work is underway with national authorities to involve dogs in demining operations, and UNDP, the Mine Action Advisory Group (MAG), the animal training organization APOPO, and other international partners have supported the opening of a new dog training center.

According to her, trained dogs can survey up to 1,500 square meters of territory daily, which is up to 75 times faster than humans.

Mine clearance in Ukraine

As a result of the full-scale war, a large part of Ukraine's territory has been mined, but government agencies are gradually working to clear it. The most difficult situation remains in the regions under Russian occupation.

Ukraine has created a demining corps that will work in the de-occupied territories. 1000 demining groups have already been created, which will include 5000 specialists.

Meanwhile, the European Union has launched a new humanitarian program to demine the territory of Ukraine, providing funding of €2 million.