Oleksandr Romaniuk, Director of Economics at UDS: Mine Action in Ukraine: The Future of Robotics

For 10 years, the Ukrainian people have been confronting the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. Two of them are in full-scale invasion mode. Every day we do everything in our power to bring our victory closer.

According to the UN, before the full-scale war, grain from Ukraine fed more than 400 million people around the world and was of great importance for ensuring global food security.

During these years of war, the territory of Ukraine has become the most contaminated with explosive objects (explosives) in the world.

Many farms have lost the opportunity to work on their land. Some try to work at their own risk, without waiting for demining. People get injured. Equipment is being destroyed.

As of now, about 156 thousand square meters. km of land remain potentially contaminated with explosive ordnance. Of these, 512 thousand hectares are priority agricultural lands to be cleared. Demining work continues, but there are many challenges in the field of mine action so that the process not only accelerates, but at least does not stop.

There are more and more operators

To clean up war-contaminated lands as soon as possible, a sufficient number of specialists, the introduction of the latest technologies in the field of demining and proper funding are needed.

As one of its priorities, the Ministry of Economy has repeatedly declared the formation of a demining market.

There are positive developments in this direction. If in the fall of 2023, 19 operators were certified in Ukraine, of which nine were Ukrainian, then in January 2024 the number of operators was 28, and at the beginning of May 2024, the list of mine action operators who passed certification already included 39 organizations. Among them:

1. Private commercial organizations — 17;

2. State-owned enterprise – 1;

3. Military unit of the Ministry of Defense - 4;

4. Units of the State Emergency Service – 4;

5. Representative offices of international charitable organizations – 8;

6. National non-profit organizations — 5.

To acquire the status of a mine action operator, it is necessary to undergo initial certification and obtain a certificate for at least one of the mine action processes.

Humanitarian demining in detail: stages and cost

According to the Law of Ukraine "On Mine Action in Ukraine", demining (humanitarian demining) is a set of measures carried out by mine action operators in order to eliminate hazards associated with explosive objects, including non-technical and technical survey of territories, mapping, detection, neutralization and (or) destruction

explosive ordnance, marking, preparation of post-demining documentation, providing communities with information on mine action, and handing over the cleared area.

Therefore, the cost of a Non-Technical Survey (NTS), which involves the collection, analysis and evaluation of information about the area to determine it as a suspected dangerous area or a confirmed hazardous area, and the processes of extracting, reducing or clearing areas for their further effective use without the use of technical means is 50-80 thousand hryvnias per shift.

For the most part, NTS is carried out at the expense of donor organizations or free of charge as "reconnaissance" before further demining work.

After the NTM works, technical inspection and demining/clearance begins. These works involve the detection, neutralization (destruction) of all threats associated with mines/explosive remnants of war, without the use of mechanization and mine-detection dogs.

The cleaning speed, depending on the category of land, is 15-50 square meters. m per sapper per day. That is, the productivity of a group of 9 sappers (where 7 work is performed at the same time) averages 200 square meters. Thus, demining of 1 hectare will take approximately 50 working days.

The cost of work is on average UAH 6 million/ha.

Of course, there are also factors that affect the speed: tall and dense vegetation and significant contamination of the ground with mines/ERW. In the presence of such "obstacles", the speed of work can be 5-15 square meters. m per sapper, respectively, the duration of the work, and therefore the cost of demining, will increase.

However, if it is confirmed that mines and cluster munitions are present in the area, vegetation removal is possible only with the help of demining vehicles.

Combat Area Clearance is the clearance of dangerous areas that, according to the results of the NTS, are identified as those where there are no mines.

Clearance  without the use of demining vehicles:

The average productivity of a group of 9 sappers is 7,500 square meters. m per shift. The cost of cleaning is on average 180 thousand hryvnias/ha.

Clearance with the use of demining vehicles:

The average productivity of a group of 9 sappers with the involvement of a demining vehicle is 10 thousand square meters. m per shift. The cost of cleaning is on average 140 thousand - 150 thousand hryvnias / ha.

Demining with the use of machines and mechanisms.

The fastest type of demining. It is used in areas where the presence of mines and/or cluster munitions has been confirmed. For this type of demining, productivity depends to a lesser extent on the overgrowth of the territory. The machine is capable of destroying dense vegetation, including young trees.

This method allows demining up to 2 hectares per day. The cost of demining is about 230 thousand hryvnias/ha.

Today, among private operators, demining work is mostly carried out by operators of international charitable organizations (HALO Trust, FSD, DRC, NPA, etc.). Demining work is mainly done manually.

The cost of the work is 30-50 thousand dollars per hectare and operators who use funds from international organizations are not interested in increasing productivity, which means that the volume of demined land does not increase.

Funds from donor organizations are mainly used to conduct non-technical surveys and inform the public about the risks associated with mines and explosive remnants of war.

The actual state of affairs on the example of the Mykolaiv region

The minutes of the meeting of the coordination headquarters for clearing the territories of the Mykolaiv region from explosive objects, in March 2024, approved the "Plan for the implementation of measures for the inspection and clearance of agricultural land of the Mykolaiv region for 2024" from explosive objects.

The plan stipulates that agricultural land with a total area of 43.984 thousand hectares needs to be surveyed and cleared (demined). Of these, 7.5 thousand hectares need demining in the first place, which are cultivated by more than 50 different agricultural producers.

Mine action operators performing demining work using machines and mechanisms, NIBULON and UDS, estimated the demining work of the first stage at USD 9 million (taking into account the fact that the land can be partially unblocked by a non-technical survey). By the way, given that today, in the private sector, humanitarian demining operators have 14 demining vehicles, the existing fleet for 2024 can unlock 2,400 hectares.

It is important that demining work is not possible under conditions of excessive soil moisture or freezing, so approximately 155 days are left to complete the specified amount of work.

However, the implementation of this project does not start due to the lack of effective mechanisms for financing humanitarian demining.

The existing funding mechanisms from donor organizations are not aimed at financing the work carried out by private commercial organizations.

As of mid-May, the mechanism of state compensation for the costs of humanitarian demining of agricultural land has not worked.

Agricultural producers, who are entrusted with paying 20% of the cost of demining works, are not able to bear such costs due to the lack of working capital and the uncertainty of payback prospects, which is associated with both war risks and lack of confidence in the extension of existing land lease agreements, most of which expire in the next year or two.

The number of operators is currently increasing. At the beginning of May, 39 operators have been certified and about 50 potential operators are in the process of certification. But almost all private operators are idle. This negatively affects the attractiveness of this type of activity, which in turn will lead to a slowdown in the development of the market and the mine action system as a whole.

Therefore, it is optimal to introduce a model of compensating mine action operators for the actual costs incurred for demining, as they can be easily verified. Only expenses incurred in accordance with standard operating procedures (SOPs) should be accepted because they are approved at the state level. Compensation for the costs of humanitarian demining of agricultural land should be provided to humanitarian demining operators in the amount of 100% of the price of the contract concluded by the operator with the user of agricultural land and the Mine Action Center.

At the same time, taking into account the fact that, according to DSTU 8820:2023, all demining areas where clearance was carried out are subject to inspection, and the share of the area chosen for inspection must be at least 3% of the cleared area or the area where a technical survey (TS) was carried out, it is necessary to provide for an increase in the staff of such Inspection Bodies, taking into account the area of land planned to be demined this year.

It would be advisable to fix the profit margin of operators, ideally, at the level of 25% (by analogy with the arms market), which will allow PCD operators to invest in business development. Including the improvement of the material base, the introduction of the latest technologies, staff training, etc. In short, to implement everything that is so necessary for the development of primary mine action in Ukraine and, as a result, accelerating the clearance of our lands.

In EU countries, for example, in Croatia, where the war ended in 1998, but due to the complexity of the landscape, demining work is still ongoing, the estimated cost of manual demining is 4-5 dollars/sq.m, the cost of mechanized demining is 0.9-1.2 dollars/sq.m.

Ukrainian operators, even taking into account the profit of 25%, can perform work cheaper: manual demining at $3/sq.m and mechanized demining at the level of $0.5/sq.m. This approach not only stimulates the development of the mine action industry, but also supports Ukrainian operators and, as a result, the domestic economy, as taxes will be paid to the state budget.

Technology development

And finally, about the development of technologies in the field of humanitarian demining. Equipment, of course, is ahead, and we will constantly encounter new technologies in humanitarian demining. Robotics, drones, IT technologies – it's all important. Several firms in Ukraine are already working on the development of drones with scanners that would be able to analyze territories for the presence of explosive objects. At the same time, regardless of the landscape of the territory, the degree of vegetation, and other things. Such technologies can significantly reduce the time and speed up the demining of the territories of Ukraine. But even here we need the active participation of the state.

There are companies that produce new products, technologies, there are operators who are interested in using the latest technologies in their work. And there is a state that must do everything to adopt these new technologies.

Dialogue between the state and manufacturers should take place on an ongoing basis to improve the product. And the first step is the terms of reference for the product from the state, adjusting the activities of manufacturers.

The incubator, the launch of which was announced, is a great idea. And it should work to the fullest.

So, if all these pieces of the puzzle are put together, the clearance of our lands will be accelerated many times over, which means that farmers will begin to develop land and harvest as soon as possible.

The column was prepared for OBOZ. UA: https://war.obozrevatel.com/ukr/protiminna-diyalnist-v-ukraini-majbutne-za-robototehnikoyu.htm