Some 30,000 sq km of deoccupied territories recognized as safe from mine threats – Defense Ministry
Currently, 30,000 square kilometers of deoccupied territories of Ukraine have been recognized as not containing evidence of contamination by explosive objects, this is more than 17% of the preliminary assessment of contamination, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported.
"Today, thanks to our joint work, the area of contaminated territories has already decreased by 30,000 square kilometers. This means that no explosive objects were found in these territories or that the discovered explosive objects were neutralized," head of the Main Directorate of Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety of the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Ruslan Berehulia said.
He also emphasized that now Kherson, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions remain the most contaminated, where in total more than 50% of all incidents with explosive objects among the civilian population occurred.
According to the colonel, when carrying out mine clearance activities, an integrated approach is used, which, among other things, involves conducting a chemical analysis of soils on agricultural lands for the presence of hazardous substances.
The head of the Main Directorate of Mine Action also noted that currently 78 mechanized mine clearance vehicles of both domestic and foreign production are used by security and defense forces demining teams, as well as mine action operators, to clear de-occupied territories from explosives.
The department recalled that initially the area of de-occupied territories in Ukraine potentially contaminated with explosive objects was estimated at 174,000 square kilometers, of which 14,000 square kilometers are water areas.