Mine Clearing in Ukraine: How It Works and What Specialists We Need
What can technical universities offer?
Ukraine plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) for demining. The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and Palantir, a technology company specializing in big data analytics, have signed a partnership agreement on humanitarian demining. Thus, Ukraine faces many new challenges in this field that require modern solutions. But its progress is not stagnant. Valentyn Maidaniuk, Head of Mine Action at the Project Office of the National Aviation University, told Mind about the changes in the demining of Ukrainian territories, the required solutions and specialists, and ways to address these issues.
There are different estimates of how much time and money is needed to clear the territories of mines and ammunition. The SES reports 156,000 square kilometers (one-third of the country!) that are to be checked and where all dangerous items found are to be neutralized. Approximately 50,000 square kilometers of this area are currently available for demining. This requires decades. Different media name a period of 30-40-100-700 years. In terms of money, it ranges from USD 37 billion to USD 500 billion.
This is a long-term and dangerous task that requires well-trained specialists and technological innovations.
Not all 156,000 square kilometers are mined. The World Bank estimates that about 10% of this area is contaminated with explosive ordnance. However, screening out the safe areas requires complex technical work. Processing satellite images helps to identify dangerous areas. The analysis allows us to calculate the locations of shelling, the caliber of ammunition, military movement, and enemy locations. At the same time, soil samples can be used to determine the degree of chemical contamination. The environmental damage should always be in focus.
Three types of demining: military, operational and humanitarian
Military demining means the military clearing the territory of mines for an offensive or other tasks. Operational demining is carried out when an explosive object is found, for example, in a city. For example, when a munition piece or a drone hit a house and are neutralized by the State Emergency Service or the police.
And there is humanitarian demining. We need to check the de-occupied territories, identify dangerous objects, map them, clear them, and document everything. Humanitarian demining is essential for civilians to return home and live safely there.
Humanitarian demining is carried out by international and domestic mine action operators, making it a viable market. Mine action operators have to go through a complex certification procedure to be authorized to carry out demining. There are 30 such operators today, and another 50 are waiting for certification. Their work is funded mainly by international donors.
The staff of the state services responsible for demining has also grown: the State Emergency Service (SES), the State Transport Special Service (STSS), and the Explosives Service of the National Police. In some cases, the number of employees has increased tenfold. For example, the SES pyrotechnic service was to increase from 600 to 1,000 specialists in 2022 and 1,500 in 2023.
Large agricultural companies that demine their land on their own are another notable player. For example, Nibulon is a certified mine action operator. Those who cannot become an independent operator go to already certified organizations. There are cases when agricultural companies create their in-house demining groups, although demining by non-operators is illegal in Ukraine.
The price of demining for farmers can reach USD 1,781 per hectare. In 2024, the government launched a program to compensate 80% of the costs of humanitarian demining services for farmers.
Problems and challenges
Foreign partners provide technical assistance for demining: high-tech equipment, specialized armored vehicles, drones, robots, underwater drones, sapper suits, and metal detectors. This is expensive equipment produced in much smaller quantities than we need. That's when our domestic developers, technicians, and startupers can help.
At the end of March, 17 teams of developers, most of whom were students of technical universities, gathered at the National Aviation University to attend a workshop on humanitarian demining by the UNDP, OSCE, and T4T technological company.
Then, the teams pitched their designs to a jury that would determine which team would be able to apply for a grant and win money to create a minimum viable product (MVP).
The event is aimed at giving young developers an understanding of the technological solutions expected from them by the state and mine action operators.
The industry is full of projects that duplicate those already successfully implemented. This becomes a problem when quick and effective solutions are needed.
Demining technologies
There are two main technological areas to develop: unmanned platforms and area scanning.
The mined territory is so great that we can't afford to demine one-third of the country for a hundred years and don't have a reliable way to detect all threats.
Ground-based platforms are being actively developed. These are versatile platforms that do not just deliver explosives to the object to be neutralized; they can also be equipped with manipulators, sensors, mowers, etc. With large demining machines, we are talking about the "machinery clears, people check" principle. Unfortunately, we won't be able to remove people from this process completely.
Area scanning means tools to identify objects visually from drones. Typically, such technologies are designed around machine vision when a neural network is trained to identify dangerous objects from drone video. Plastic and wooden mines, are almost impossible to detect with metal detectors and with machine vision from the air if in the ground, present a serious challenge. And the university, as a place for scientists, engineers, and adventurers, can help overcome these challenges.
Technical universities and their capabilities
A technical university has several role models in mine action.
Manufacturers are in great demand for skilled engineers. For example, skilled in soldering.
Covid, the war, and distance learning have complicated the situation with highly qualified specialists. Therefore, the National Aviation University is setting up a student R&D laboratory for demining. It doesn't have to be something super-technological, but it needs a basic set of tools. It also needs an environment, communication, exchange of opinions and ideas.
Another model is a scientific hub where developers can seek advice. A university is a place for people with scientific and technical expertise. Sometimes a university has the only specialist in a particular field in the country. And we are already implementing developer consultations together with the BRAVE1 cluster.
And the last aspect is sapper training. One can't train an explosive ordnance technician in a month. The rapid increase in the staff of pyrotechnic services means an overload of training centers that existed before the full-scale invasion. The university is helpful here due to its:
- material base;
- professors; and
- experience in creating new curricula.
For example, an NAU student majoring in humanitarian demining could study chemistry, ecology, geodesy, drones, electronics, economics, and management here. The university already has these disciplines, and we just need to adapt them to the new curriculum.
Technical universities are the future of Ukraine's defense tech industry. If we understand this and pay attention to it in time, we have every chance to become the main technology hub in Europe. Above all, we have a chance to win this war.
The OpenMind authors, as a rule, are invited experts and contributors who prepare the material on request of our editors. Yet, their point of view may not coincide with that of the Mind editorial team.
However, the team is responsible for the accuracy and relevance of the opinion expressed, specifically, for fact-checking the statements and initial verification of the author.
Mind also thoroughly selects the topics and columns that can be published in the OpenMind section and processes them in line with the editorial standards.
