In May of this year, governmental and non-governmental mine action units surveyed almost 31,000 hectares of agricultural land, returning it to economic use. Since the beginning of the year, sappers have surveyed more than 146,000 hectares, of which more than 137,800 have already been put into operation. This was reported by Deputy Minister of Economy Ihor Bezkaravainy, the press service of the Ministry of Economy reports.

The joint efforts of Ukrainian and international partners contributed to the acceleration of the demining process. According to Bezkaravayny, this year's pace of land clearing significantly exceeds last year's figures. "A good example of qualitatively established processes is demonstrated by the Kherson regional military administration, which ensured effective coordination of all operators working in the region. Thanks to this, in May, it was possible to return to operation the land, the area of ​​which is twice the area of ​​the city itself," the deputy minister emphasized.

In May, 29.8 thousand hectares of agricultural land were returned to agricultural producers, including 26.9 thousand hectares in the Kherson region. Ukraine plans to return 80% of potentially explosive-contaminated land to economic use within the next 10 years.

However, if the problem of landmines is not solved effectively, the number of victims from landmines may reach 9,000 by 2030. Pollution has also rendered unusable some of the country's most valuable agricultural land, affecting Ukraine's economy and global food security.

To speed up the demining process, Ukraine intends to use all available technological tools. In particular, it is planned to involve artificial intelligence for the analysis of large data sets (big data).

At the beginning of 2024, Ukraine updated and revised the plan for the priority return to economic exploitation of agricultural land. According to the new plan, more than 512 thousand hectares of agricultural land are subject to priority survey and demining.

During 2023, more than 200,000 hectares of agricultural land, which were planned for priority survey and demining, were returned to use. It also became known that the first state register of territories contaminated or likely to be contaminated by explosive objects will be created in Ukraine.