Ukraine demonstrates effectiveness in humanitarian demining
27.10.2025
During the UMAC 2025 international conference in Tokyo, a side event "Forming a Humanitarian Demining Sector in Ukraine" was held, organized by the Humanitarian Demining Center.
The event became a platform for presenting practical results of the Ukrainian model of humanitarian demining, discussing digital solutions, strategic directions for the development of the sector, and the possible contribution of various stakeholder groups to achieving this goal. The side-event was attended by over 50 specialists.
Speakers:
- Volodymyr Bayda, Director of the Humanitarian Demining Center;
- Valeriy Dema, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Humanitarian Security LLC;
- Yves Bonnardel Char, International Sales Director, Geomines;
- Guy Rhodes, Senior Programme Policy Officer, World Food Programme (WFP);
- Vitaliy Lopushansky, founder and CEO of UADAMAGE LLC.
One of the key elements of the Ukrainian approach remains the program for compensating for the costs of humanitarian demining of agricultural lands, which is an effective example of a state support model.
The Director of the Center, Volodymyr Bayda, emphasized that the introduction of transparent market mechanisms made it possible to significantly increase the efficiency of the use of funds and create competition among PMD operators.
As of 2025, more than 90 contracts have already been concluded within the program, and the average savings on procurement are over 21%.
During the side event, the Center presented two important digital projects that will change the approach to mine action management:
- The Register of Territories Contaminated or Likely Contaminated with Explosive Ordnance is a single state platform that will collect consolidated, unified data from all participants in the demining sector.
- The GRIT (Ground Rehabilitation through Innovation Technologies) platform, created in partnership with Palantir Technologies, is a big data analytics system for prioritizing demining efforts and assessing the socio-economic impact of humanitarian demining.
“GRIT will become the intellectual hub for decision-making in humanitarian demining. It is a shift from fragmented data to a holistic vision – where every cleared area is seen as a contribution to economic recovery,” –
emphasized Volodymyr Bayda.
Separately, the Director of the Center presented the results of the "VR Deminer's Lab" hackathon - a concept of VR/AR simulator training missions for deminers. This approach will allow you to safely reproduce work in real conditions and will become the basis for new training programs for PMD operators and veterans.
The Director of the Center and the Head of the Department of International Cooperation and Donor Relations held a number of bilateral meetings with international partners: France, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Croatia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Discussions were also held with representatives of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the World Food Programme (WFP) and Mines Advisory Group (MAG).
They discussed the development of the humanitarian demining sector, the introduction of innovative technologies, and the possibilities of further support for Ukraine.
Following the negotiations, representatives of the official delegation of the Netherlands expressed interest in supporting the development of a quality control system for humanitarian demining.
“Our goal is to build a self-sufficient humanitarian demining system that will become an example for other countries and a guarantee of security for every Ukrainian community,”
Volodymyr Bayda summed up.