Charitable foundation presented demining equipment
23 September, 2024 The Howard G. Buffett Foundation demining machine. Photo credits: Yuliia Svyrydenko
American philanthropist, chairman of The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Howard Buffett presented the equipment for demining agricultural land that he and his team developed. Traktorist.ua reported on this with reference to the words of MP Dmytro Solomchuk and Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko.
"We shouldn't be thinking about how to save as many cars as possible, but how to demine our land as quickly as possible and save as many lives as possible," said Howard Buffett. "Thanks to the remote control, the operator sets the boundaries of the field that the tractor needs to cover. The tractor pushes multi-ton rollers ahead.
When the roller hits an explosive object, the weight of the roller causes a detonation. In the event of a malfunction, this attachment can be easily replaced with a new one or repaired. And because the production is located in Ukraine, the time and cost of logistics are minimized," explains Yuliia Svyrydenko.
According to the photos, the demining vehicle is a commercial CAT D6 series bulldozer, equipped with a remote control system and additional protection against debris. Mine trawls are attached to the vehicle, which trigger mines during demining.
Anti-debris protection of the most important places of the demining vehicle. Photo credits: Yuliia Svyrydenko
The photo also shows that two versions of the trawls were presented: a light, single-row, two-section trawl and a heavy, double-row, five-section trawl.
A heavy version of the demining trawl.
Photo credits: Yuliia Svyrydenko
Dmytro Solomchuk said that the equipment had already been tested in the United States. On September 14, it was also tested in Ukraine, having withstood a blast from five anti-tank mines and even after that it remained usable. In case of damage, the rollers can be quickly replaced with new ones.
Yuliia Svyrydenko also said that the attachments were made in Ukraine. Machines for preparing the ground for demining and trawls for them will be purchased at the expense of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
Mine clearance in Ukraine
More than 5,000 km2 of the Ukrainian soil has been cleared of mines since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
This was announced on September 20, 2024 by First Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk.
2059 km2 of the agricultural land has been surveyed and cleared of explosive hazards in accordance with the plan to clear it of explosive ordnance. This area was returned to productive use. Currently, humanitarian demining is being carried out on 282 sites with a total area of 17.5 km2, of which 88 sites with a total area of 7.23 km2 have already been transferred to territorial communities.
However, after the initial survey, 142,000 km2 of the Ukrainian territory are still considered contaminated with explosive ordnance.
"According to results of the initial non-technical survey of territories affected by explosive ordnance, their area has decreased from 156,000 km2 to 142,000 km2," said Ivan Havryliuk.