Demining Ukraine will take 757 years – WaPo

The use of US-made cluster bombs will only make the situation worse,
the paper reports

FILE PHOTO. ©  Global Look Press / Nina Liashonok

The conflict with Russia has turned Ukraine into the “most mined country” in the world, the
Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing data from the nation’s government and
several non-governmental humanitarian mine clearance groups.

Almost one-third of Ukraine’s territory has been affected by heavy fighting and will likely
require intense demining operations, the media outlet said, adding that over 67,000 square
miles (173,529 square kilometers) have been contaminated with unexploded ordnance,
according to Slovakia-based think tank GLOBSEC. That’s more than the size of Florida
and roughly equivalent to Uruguay.

“The sheer quantity of ordnance in Ukraine is just unprecedented in the last 30 years.
There’s nothing like it,” Greg Crowther, the director of programs at British NGO Mines
Advisory Group, told the Washington Post.

According to UN data, almost 300 civilians, including 22

children, died in Ukraine in incidents linked to
unexploded ordnance between February 2022 and July
2023, the Post reported. Mines and other unexploded
munitions also resulted in 632 civilian injuries over the
same period, it added.

Both sides of the conflict actively use mines in their

operations, the media outlet noted. The US also
contributed to the mining of Ukrainian territory by Read more Huge swathes of
supplying Kiev with 155-millimeter artillery rounds that Ukraine covered in mines and
create temporary minefields, although their cluster bombs – UN
submunitions are technically supposed to self-destruct,
the Washington Post reported. Another US-made ordnance that was sent into Ukraine was
the M21 anti-tank mine, which does not self-destruct, it added.

Washington’s decision to provide Kiev with US-

made “cluster munitions, which are known to scatter
duds that fail to explode, can only add to the
danger,” the media outlet said.

According to some estimates, it could take 757 years to

clear all of the unexploded ordnance scattered around
the country, even if 500 demining teams were tasked
with the mission, the Washington Post reported. World
Read more Russia warns of ‘mine Bank estimates show that the cost of these operations
threat’ in Black Sea could reach $37.4 billion in just the next ten years, it
added.

Washington has so far committed just around $95 million to demining operations in
Ukraine, according to a 2023 State Department report.

On Friday, UN Under Secretary General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary
DiCarlo warned the UN Security Council that huge swathes of Ukrainian territory have
been covered in mines and cluster bombs that will “continue to pose danger to civilians for
years to come.” 

Earlier this week, Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, blasted Washington for
turning Ukraine into a “burial ground” for lethal waste.