Demine Ukraine Forum 2025: Results and Challenges of Humanitarian Mine Action
08.12.2025
At the Demine Ukraine Forum 2025, Director of Humanitarian Mine Action Center Volodymyr Baida presented key results and further steps in humanitarian demining. In his speech, he stressed that demining is not only a technical process but above all about people and their right to safety.
One of the central focuses was a state program to compensate for humanitarian demining costs on agricultural land, an instrument that allowed farmers faster return lands into cultivation.
Key results of the compensation program:
- 144 auctions were announced for a total area of about 28,500 hectares. The estimated cost is almost UAH 2 billion
- 109 contracts were signed with a total area of almost 18 thousand hectares and the cost for demining is more than 1 billion UAH.
- 50 contracts have been executed, almost 10 thousand hectares of land has already cleared. The cost is about 573 million UAH
Volodymyr Baida emphasized the powerful economic effect of these results:
The “cleansing” is almost 10. The use of hectares is not only about security, but also the real economic return to life. For only one season of cultivation, these areas can bring gross income to agricultural producers: – corn for grain - more than 647 million UAH; sunflower — about 541.6 million UAH; wheat — more than 435 million UAH.
In addition, the state has already reimbursed more than UAH 4.7 million to farmers whose land was cleared before launching a compensation program.
From individuals, for whom the possibility of participation in a compensation program appeared only about one month ago already received 213 applications on total area around 3.4 thousand hectares.
The scale and complexity of humanitarian demining work remain enormous. That is why the next stage focuses on strategic challenges:
- over 405 thousand hectares of forests probably need demining;
- 1.35 million hectares of water bodies may contain explosive objects.
To ensure an integrated and systematic approach to mine action, the Centre participated in setting up a Technical Committee. The Centre shall act as its secretariat, coordinating the work on implementation of uniform national standards.
“By creating a transparent, efficient and technological system of humanitarian demining we show that security is the result from partnership with professionalism.
The director of the center stressed.
The Demine Ukraine Forum 2025 is organized by the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture in cooperation with UNDP-supported Humanitarian Mine Action Centre (HLCM) as well As funding from governments Norway & Netherlands.



