On Dec. 8, 2005, the General Assembly declared that April 4 of each year shall be observed as the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. This year, to mark the occasion, Kyiv Post interviewed Paul Heslop, senior mine action advisor to the resident coordinator and United Nations Country Team in Ukraine.
Kyiv Post: How would you describe the current situation with landmines in Ukraine, particularly in terms of the scale of contamination from Russia? How many hectares of land are estimated to have been mined?
“We haven't seen a static front line like this in Ukraine, with four years of fighting, since the First World War.”
Paul Heslop: That’s a very challenging question because, at present, all territory occupied by Russia following its full-scale invasion is suspected to have been mined. So that equates to about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, or around 132,076 square kilometers.
Actual contamination within that will be significantly less. But obviously, because of the war, there is still the possibility that mines or other explosive devices may have been used. So, we need to find a way to very quickly release that land and get it back into agricultural or economic use. And then we have a front-line area that is around 1,000 kilometers long and between two and 20 kilometers deep – that has some of the worst contamination the world has ever seen.
Certainly, we haven’t seen a static front line like that since the First World War; then add to that some four years of fighting, which is nearly 1,500 days. So, if there are 1,000 unexploded bombs per day, that’s one and a half million. But we know there has been a lot more than that – we’re probably looking at three, four, or five million explosive devices in that front-line area that will need to be cleared when there is some sort of ceasefire.
Unfortunately, as the war goes on, we’re seeing more and more weapons systems being used with longer ranges, as well as drones flying further and further west. New contamination is therefore increasing every night.
Is it possible to estimate the time needed for demining? How many years do you think it will take to fully clear the territory of mines and unexploded ordinance in Ukraine?
I would say that timelines are very difficult to estimate until we know the exact level of contamination. And, of course, the areas that are under Russian occupation are even harder to assess. So, if we are talking about clearing every last item, it will take decades.
And you have to know that, before Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine had been clearing over half a million unexploded weapons from the Second World War – so for more than 75 years. Exposed contamination will therefore be an issue for many years.
But, if we concentrate on clearing the areas that have the highest impact – for example to allow schools to be built, hospitals to be repaired, high value agricultural land to be brought back into use, as well as looking at areas with critical infrastructure, ports, roads and bridges – then with a high level of commitment from the international community to pay for it, we could see most of those tasks being completed in the next five to 10 years after a ceasefire or a peace deal.
How did Ukrainian local demining teams develop their activity on the ground?
The increase in capacity in Ukraine has been incredible, and there are so many brave Ukrainian men and women who go out every day. Five years ago, there were maybe four or five hundred people working in the sector. Now there are around 5,000.
I’m just talking here about civilian operators. There are, of course, many military operators whom, if there was a ceasefire or a peace deal, would then be able to work on humanitarian tasks as well.
Ukraine has a very high skill set, a lot of knowledge and enthusiasm, and has been provided with some very good equipment by the international community. I’m sure the brave men and women will have a very big impact very quickly.
How have new technologies have shaped demining actions in Ukraine? Could you highlight the most innovative tools or methods that have been deployed?
One of the most impressive things I’ve seen since I arrived in Ukraine, has been the amount of land that has been liberated following suspected mine contamination. But it wasn’t possible to visit every one of those sites. So, they created a project run by the State Emergency Services of Ukraine, Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Kyiv School of Economics and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Ukraine, to develop the ability to use data analysts and AI to analyze the territory. As a result, 30 million square kilometers of suspected land was validated and assessed as not contaminated.
Traditionally, demining costs between half a dollar and a dollar per square meter. If that land [I just mentioned] had to be manually cleared, you’d have been talking about billions of dollars. That project was a few hundred thousand dollars.
I think that it shows how using remote sensors, remote technology, high resolution cameras mounted either on satellites or drones, then adding data analytics and AI software, is allowing errors to be reduced and the ability to decide which demining machine – or even a dog or a person – is to be deployed.
“Ukraine has probably advanced the use of drones and remote sensors more in the pastthree years, than the rest of the world has done in the past 30 years.”
In terms of different sensor types on different devices, we’re also seeing underwater drones that are going down and checking harbor areas, rivers and waterways. And we’ve got ground-based drones being used to tow various detectors or remove vegetation so that the deminers have easier access.
Added to that, we have aerial drones which are either mounted with cameras, or that use UV, infrared or things like lidar, as well as different types of ground penetrating radar or magnetic sensors.
Ukraine has strongly embraced technology and we’re seeing massive innovation in the sector. I’d go so far as to say that Ukraine has probably advanced the use of remote sensors and drones more in the past three years than the rest of the world has done in the past 30 years.
What are the main challenges faced by demining teams on the ground in Ukraine?
I think the first and biggest challenge is obviously security. Unfortunately, most of the big demining organizations have had some form of security incident in the last year and a half when a drone, rocket or missile has impacted either a team or close to where a team was working. That’s more likely to have been the case within 20 kilometers of the front line.
The second main challenge is how to fund technology. Demining is extremely expensive and there are many priorities for funds in Ukraine. The good news is that the international community has already provided substantial funding to Ukraine so far. Since then, we’ve had the crisis in Gaza and in Sudan. And now we’ve got a crisis in Iran. There’s always an earthquake or a flood somewhere in the world. So, there are a lot of global demands with limited corresponding aid budgets.
We would be very happy to absorb another $100-300 million into the demining sector if that was possible. However, I want to highlight that the EU, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Canada, the US and Australia, have all made massive contributions to demining. One person particularly, Howard Buffett, owner of the Howard Buffett Foundation, has been the most generous for funding humanitarian demining in Ukraine.
“We would like to take the skills and the technologies learned in Ukraine to other countries with demining crises around the world.”
How useful has Ukraine found your experience of demining activities in other countries?
A lot of my projects with UNDP are about trying to see how we can enhance the skills and knowledge of the Ukrainian teams; taking lessons from countries like Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan, and bringing them into Ukraine so that Ukraine can be even more efficient and effective than it is now. This is very much a UN approach: to try to build Ukrainian capacity and ensure that expertise remains in place locally.
And then – ultimately – what we would like to see is the skills and the lessons learned in Ukraine, particularly from using drones and other systems, to be taken to other humanitarian crises in countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, and Libya; and to help other humanitarian mine action programs around the world learn from what we’re doing in Ukraine and the new technologies that are being developed and deployed so effectively.