Editoria e Media
LANDMINE CHARITY CALLS FOR A 'MARSHALL PLAN FOR MINES' FOR UKRAINE
The Ukrainian government estimates that around 40 per cent of Ukraine – around 250,000 square kilometres - may need to be searched and cleared of mines and explosives. This equates to an area larger than the United Kingdom . In addition to anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, tens of thousands of artillery shells are being fired every day - with thousands failing to explode.
Open-source satellite imagery indicates there are minefields that stretch for hundreds of kilometres in the east and the south of the country. One single fortified mine line runs 90km from the Russian border to north of the town of Lysychansk in the east. Other images show multiple lines of Russian fortifications north of Melitopol that zigzag for 300km. Similar fortifications were used on the Cambodian border, where a 700km long mine belt was laid in the 1980s.
HALO's CEO James Cowan said:
HALO is working across Ukraine in partnership with the State Emergency Services (SES), the National Mine Action Authority and its Ministry of Defence.
James Cowan said:
HALO established its Ukraine programme in the Donbas in 2016 and relocated its workforce to the Kyiv oblast in April 2022 so its staff could deliver urgent clearance, community awareness sessions and rapid contamination survey in areas that had been occupied by Russian troops, such as Bucha and Irpin. Over the following months, HALO expanded its workforce and established operations in Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy and Mykolaiv oblasts. The organisation aims to have 1,200 Ukrainian staff operating across the country by the end of 2023, as well as establishing a global centre for research and development for complex post-war clearance.
Deminer Yulia Melnyk said:
The data released includes examples from HALO's work in the following countries:
For interview requests please email
For B-Roll footage of HALO in Ukraine please use link below (password "HALOUKRAINE"): https://vimeo.com/thehalotrust/ukraine
For still images (Credit ©Chris Strickland/HALO): https://halotrust.canto.global/b/OQJ54
1. See https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-largest-minefield-shmyhal/32214163.html for latest estimates of contamination from Ukrainian authorities
2. The HALO Trust was founded in 1988 and employs over 12,000 women and men to clear remnants of war from thirty conflict-affected countries and territories worldwide.
3. HALO's Ukrainian risk education teams have conducted 5,000 risk education sessions to 80,000 people since February 2022 and digital risk education messages have reached 15 million Ukrainians on social media.
4. Donations from the Governments of the USA , Germany , Netherlands , UK, Canada , Norway , EU and a number of private donors have enabled HALO to raise $50 million towards its Ukraine operations since February 2022.
5. Brady Afrik, an open-source satellite analyst, has identified hundreds of km of Russian defensive fortifications in southern and eastern Ukraine.
6. Details of international financial support for landmine clearance in Afghanistan and Cambodia is available from Landmine Monitor
7. See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/last-known-landmine-mozambique-destroyed for details of Mozambique
Media contact: Louise Vaughan , Global Media Manager, media@halotrust.org
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2000243/The_Halo_Trust.jpg
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2002251/Halo_Trust_2.jpg
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2000244/Halo_Trust__3.jpg
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/landmine-charity-calls-for-a-marshall-plan-for-mines-for-ukraine-301746882.html