Minister: Foreign donors pledge $244 million for demining Ukraine.

International donors pledged £244 million to assist Ukraine in demining work, Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said[1] on July 25. The funds will be provided by the governments of the U.S., Japan, Germany, the U.K., Norway, Sweden, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Austria, Switzerland, South Korea, the EU, and the Howard Buffett Foundation. In addition, Ukraine will receive ten demining systems from the Croatian company DOK-ING and ten more from the Switzerland-based Global Clearance Solutions.

Further aid will include almost 200 pyrotechnic machines, over 600 metal detectors, 50 demolition machines, individual demining kits, protective suits, quadcopters, and robotic systems for ammunition disposal. DOK-ING and the Danish company Hydrema also agreed to set up production in Ukraine, Svyrydenko informed. On July 18, Lithuania proposed[2] an international coalition to assist Ukraine in demining efforts.

Under its framework, countries would assist Kyiv with training and provide demining equipment. According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, over 200,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian land - roughly one-third of its territory - have been mined by Russian forces as of June. Ukraine has so far received[3] less than 15% of the requested demining equipment from the West, the Washington Post reported on July 16.

The outlet also wrote[4] that clearing Ukraine of mines would take the 500 currently operational teams 757 years to complete.

Ukraine's south threatened with long-term economic, agricultural decline after Kakhovka dam destruction Ukraine's agricultural heartland in the south of the country is threatened with long-term decline following the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and dam, Ukrainian officials fear. The destruction of the dam in the early hours of June 6, and the start of the draining of the Kakh...

[5] Martin Fornusek

News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent.

He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He also volunteers as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukrainer. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

References

  1. ^ said (www.facebook.com)
  2. ^ proposed (kyivindependent.com)
  3. ^ received (kyivindependent.com)
  4. ^ wrote (www.washingtonpost.com)
  5. ^ Ukraine's south threatened with long-term economic, agricultural decline after Kakhovka dam destructionUkraine's agricultural heartland in the south of the country is threatened with long-term decline following the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and dam, Ukrainian officials fear.

    The destruction of the dam in the early hours of June 6, and the start of the draining of the Kakh... (kyivindependent.com)

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