Oleksii Soboliev: Demined Lands of the Potato Research Institute Have Generated Profit for the State

During the Demine Ukraine Forum 2025, Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture Oleksii Soboliev noted that nearly 10,000 hectares of agricultural land have already been returned to farmers thanks to the state program compensating demining costs. According to him, such results became possible due to systematic cooperation between the state, international partners, and humanitarian demining operators.

The Minister highlighted the example of the Potato Research Institute of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, whose lands—after being cleared by UDS sappers—were returned to agricultural production this year and have already yielded a harvest:

“Some have already begun working on the demined fields. Let me give an example: the Potato Research Institute. They were among the first to regain access to their plots, managed to gather a harvest this year, and even engaged external contractors. The Institute also specializes in developing Ukrainian potato varieties. This autumn, they harvested thousands of tons of potatoes that are in high demand among our farmers. These varieties are twice cheaper than imported ones and better adapted to our conditions.”

It should be noted that in 2024–2025, UDS demined and surveyed a total of 576 hectares of highly valuable lands belonging to the Potato Research Institute in Kyiv region, which had been occupied by Russian forces during the full-scale invasion.

UDS sappers detected and destroyed explosive remnants of war both from the current Russian–Ukrainian war and even from World War II. In total, more than 1,000 kg of remnants were removed.

During the operations, UDS used Bozena 5+ remote-controlled demining machines, which ensured that the tasks were completed on time, safely, and efficiently.

The importance of technologies and machinery in mine action was also emphasized by Japan’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Masashi Nakagome, who stated:

“Humanitarian demining must rely on three essential components — people, technologies, and machines.”

Demine Ukraine Forum 2025 became a key platform for discussing achievements and challenges in the field of humanitarian demining.