June 28, 2023
In June 2023, LLC “Patron Demining” sapper teams started humanitarian demining of the territories of Makariv community in Bucha district, Kyiv region.
The work is being carried out under a contract between the Ukrainian Deminers Association https://www.facebook.com/Ukrainiansappers and Patron Demining, the winner of the tender for humanitarian demining. As a result, the Makariv community will get back more than 53 hectares of protected agricultural field.
“We plan to complete the demining in four months,” says Andriy Serbin, Director of “Patron Demining” LLC, “It is difficult to predict how contaminated the area is with explosive devices, as there are craters from explosions and a lot of debris. The sappers’ work is also complicated by the unbearable heat – in the field it reaches over 35°C – and the height of the grass, which is sometimes higher than a person. In such conditions, it is extremely difficult to work with small fragments of ammunition that densely contaminate the territory. This is our first demining contract, but we are making every effort to justify the trust placed in us.
Andriy Serbin draws attention to a large number of problems that accompany the demining of contaminated areas today. First of all, there is a lack of state funding programs. At present, these works are being carried out at the expense of donor funds from international organizations, for which we are extremely grateful. Slow demining is also due to the lack of sappers and special equipment. Unfortunately, today’s sapper training institutions have low capacity.
The humanitarian clearance of the de-occupied territories is a global project of the Ukrainian Deminers Association NGO “Ukrainian Response and Assistance in Humanitarian Mine Action” funded by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Research and Production Company Patron Demining received the status of an official mine action operator in May this year and has certificates of conformity for non-technical and technical survey, manual demining and war zone clearance.
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Currently, 180,000 square kilometers – about one-third of Ukraine’s territory – need demining. According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Kherson regions and Donbas are the most heavily mined. It will take at least 10 years to clear this area.
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