Developing innovation as the fourth strategic objective of Ukraine’s National Mine Action Strategy and carrying over some measures from the current Operational Plan into the next one as permanent activities were among the key recommendations resulting from a three-day Workshop on reviewing the implementation of Ukraine’s National Mine Action Strategy and developing a new Operational Plan. These permanent measures include mine action planning, operational response, and strengthening the sector’s capacity. The event was organised by the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine in cooperation with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). Around 80 representatives of government institutions, mine action operators, international organisations, and civil society organisations took part in the workshop.

"We are making good progress on the first strategic objective — returning land to productive use. The progress is encouraging, although we understand that the closer we get to the frontline, the slower clearance operations will become. When it comes to strengthening the mine action system and reducing the impact of explosive ordnance on people's lives, there is still room to accelerate. The purpose of this three-day meeting was to identify the key tasks that should be included in the 2027–2029 Operational Plan, analyse what did not work well enough, and prevent those issues from being repeated in the next document. I welcome the willingness to update certain tasks and objectives of the National Strategy, because we need a relevant document that provides the framework and answers key questions," said Ihor Bezkaravainyi, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine.

Workshop participants developed proposals in several areas: innovation, human capital, international cooperation, development of the mine action market and strengthening the capacity of mine action stakeholders, humanitarian demining operations, and information management. After further processing, these proposals will be incorporated into the draft Operational Plan for 2027–2029.

Participants also paid particular attention to mine action governance. They stressed that the fragmented governance of the mine action sector remains one of the key challenges to implementing many of the National Strategy's objectives. Therefore, participants highlighted the importance of further improving the governance model, coordination mechanisms, and the distribution of responsibilities among all stakeholders in the sector.

The workshop also reviewed the implementation of the 2024–2026 Operational Plan. One of the key achievements has been the creation and development of the humanitarian demining market. Through the state-funded Humanitarian Demining Programme, more than 16,000 hectares of agricultural land have already been cleared, with works worth over UAH 950 million completed. Overall, the Ukrainian Humanitarian Demining Centre has signed contracts to clear 30,900 hectares of land worth more than UAH 2 billion. Importantly, the programme continues to evolve, with the range of eligible applicants being expanded.

Over the past three years, Ukraine has also significantly expanded its mine action infrastructure. This includes training and testing facilities as well as maintenance and repair hubs for demining machines. Another important achievement is the development of the GRIT mine action prioritisation system, which enables better planning of land clearance using analytics based on dozens of datasets. The system is currently operating in pilot mode.

Background: Ukraine’s National Mine Action Strategy is the main policy document that defines the priorities and objectives of the country's mine action policy. On 28 June 2024, the Government approved the National Mine Action Strategy and the Operational Plan for its implementation for 2024–2026. Work is currently underway on the Operational Plan for the next three-year period.