Vasyl Kvashuk, Major General of the Civil Protection Service: Our territory has reached the highest level of contamination with explosive objects in the world

Vasyl Kvashuk, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Major General of the Civil Protection Service, former Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations of Ukraine, specialist in the field of civil protection, spoke in an interview for UDS about the situation in the field of mine action in Ukraine, about the timing of demining of Ukrainian lands and what needs to be done to speed up the demining process itself.

Mr. Vasyl, tell us what is the current situation in the field of mine action in Ukraine as a whole?

I will say that many people do not realize that demining will take place not only during the war, that this specialty will be relevant for a long time even after the war. That we will demine the contaminated area for a long time. After all, many shells are now in the occupied territories, many in the liberated ones. There are underground shells, there are ground shells, there are underwater shells, and all this will need to be collected and neutralized.

How many years will it take?

According to my calculations, according to the best scenario for the implementation of our work, with a sufficient number of people and equipment, this is at least 20 years after the end of the war.

What percentage of the land from the total area of Ukraine is contaminated with these explosive objects? Is our country the most mined in the world?

Thus, our territory has reached the highest level of contamination with explosive objects in the world. After 2014, we were somewhere in 2nd-3rd place in the world, but after the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine and two years of full-scale war, we found ourselves in first place among the most contaminated countries in the world.

What can speed up humanitarian demining? Perhaps new technologies that are not yet used in Ukraine? What do you think?

I believe that, of course, our equipment is ahead, and we will constantly encounter new technologies in humanitarian demining. Perhaps drones will develop even more and they will be able to scan classrooms, transfer specific coordinates to a map, which will help us clearly see where and in which areas there is contamination with explosive objects.

That is, the development of such a system can speed up the process of humanitarian demining?

Yes. There are such prospects, because after the Second World War, only the manual method of demining was used, and now we use automated equipment. And UDS also takes mechanized demining as a basis. It is much faster than the manual method and carries much less risk of injury or injury to pyrotechnicians and the public. Therefore, first of all, such drones are our prospect and our future.

What technologies do mine action specialists need to focus on? You've listed robotics, drones, IT technologies – is it all important?

All of these areas are very important, and I know several firms in Ukraine that are already working on the development of 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.

Do you think it is necessary to make any additional changes to the law "On Mine Action"?

I believe that this process is generally unstoppable, it will always require adjustments. Today, our system is such that humanitarian demining belongs to the system of internal affairs, but there is also the Ministry of Defense, which is also inseparably involved in demining. It is very difficult to separate these two areas, and this law tried to separate them, but after the end of the war, I think everything will pass "into the hands" of humanitarian demining, and in those hands, the entire territory of Ukraine should be surveyed, classified and the creation of appropriate programs should be planned, which will be divided into years of clearance and demining of all territories of Ukraine.