Lithuania is forming a coalition for demining Ukraine
19 July, 2023 A Lithuanian sapper is engaged in demining. Illustrative photo The Lithuanian government has announced the creation of an international coalition that will help demining Ukrainian territories.
Arvydas Anusauskas, Minister of Defense of Lithuania, announced this on his social media pages. "Lithuania is forming a demining coalition and invites countries that have the ability to train deminers or provide Ukrainian soldiers with the necessary equipment to contribute. I announced this today while participating in a Ramstein meeting of Ukrainian supporters," Anusauskas wrote.
Lithuanian politicians called on other countries with mine clearance capabilities to join the coalition to provide instructors and the necessary equipment.
Informal coalition
The details of the announced coalition are still unknown. However, the topic of demining Ukrainian territories has long been promoted at the international level. The United States, Austria, Croatia, Canada, and Italy have already funded humanitarian demining programs.
GCS-200 mine clearing vehicle handed over to Ukraine, May 2023.
Photo credits: Embassy of Canada in Ukraine
Many countries have repeatedly provided Ukrainian sapper units with mine-clearing vehicles, as well as trained specialists. These are Sweden, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, and the UK. Canada and Latvia also sent their own sappers to Ukraine for humanitarian mine clearance.
In general, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, humanitarian mine clearance in Ukraine is required for an area of about 270,000 square kilometers.
Ukrainian projects
In addition to international foreign projects aimed at demining dangerous territories, there are also Ukrainian ones targeting the training of sapper units and the production of machinery and special equipment. Militarnyi previously reported that the Croatian DOK-ING and the Danish Hydrema agreed with Ukrainian manufacturers on the localization of the mine clearance vehicle production in Ukraine.
HYDREMA910 mine clearance vehicle.
Photo credits: Hydrema
It was also reported in April that the Ministry of Strategic Industries of Ukraine would be responsible for launching the production of equipment for humanitarian demining.
The private business also joins these processes, entering the field of humanitarian mine clearance.
This year, the Ukrainian Nibulon shipbuilding and repair yard received the status of a mine countermeasures operator.