Italy becomes the first partner country to allocate money directly for land demining
21 March 2025 10:49
The Italian Agency for Cooperation Development (AICS) has announced a grant competition for land clearing from mines and other remnants of war in the frontline regions. This is reported by the Government portal, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs.
The projects should be aimed at non-technical and/or technical surveys of the territories and include an element of informing the public about mine threats.
The priority for the implementation of projects within the competition was chosen to be Kharkiv region, where 55 out of 56 communities were affected by the war. This region became a pilot for the automated prioritization system based on Palantir’s IT solution.
“This is the first time that a partner country has allocated money directly for the clearance of our land, involving Ukrainian mine action operators in this process,” said Yulia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.
The total budget of the competition is six million euros. At the same time, the amount of one project should not exceed EUR 1.8 million.
It is important that only non-profit organizations can apply for the competition, which at the same time can involve commercial mine action operators as partners in project implementation.
Applications will be accepted until May 11 this year. The total planned duration of the projects is up to 15 months.
How much territory in Ukraine needs to be cleared?
As of the beginning of 2024, 156,000 square kilometers of Ukraine’s territory were potentially contaminated with explosive ordnance due to Russian aggression. As reported in January this year by the Ministry of Defense, thanks to the joint work of mine action operators and demining units of the Security and Defense Forces, in 2024 the mined area decreased by 17,000 square kilometers and now amounts to 139,000 square kilometers.
“Non-technical surveys were conducted in 165 territorial communities – almost three times more than planned. We also identified more than 300 square kilometers of allegedly or actually contaminated areas that require further humanitarian demining,” said Colonel Ruslan Berehulyana, head of the Main Department of Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety.
Last year, the demining units of the Security and Defense Forces found and destroyed 227,502 explosive devices, while mine action operators found and destroyed 10,923.
Who helps Ukraine in demining the territory
on February 15, 2024, during a meeting of NATO member states in Brussels, the Mine Action Coalition was established, which currently includes 22 countries.
At the Ukraine Mine Action Conference 2024 held in Lausanne, Switzerland, 42 countries supported the Lausanne Call for Action, committing to take concrete action on humanitarian demining in Ukraine. The total contribution of the partners to humanitarian demining since 2022 amounts to USD 1 billion 70 million.
How Palantir is involved in demining
The Ministry of Economy’s project with Palantir was officially launched this year on January 6. The Palantir solution is now being used to prioritize territories in the context of humanitarian demining.
The solution developed by the IT company helps to analyze which areas should be demined first and what effect this will have on the economy and life of communities.
“For example, in the Kharkiv region, we have identified four priority areas for demining, taking into account the combined impact of factors such as the risk of repeated shelling, plowed land, economic activity, and the number of children going to school in specific areas. Accordingly, the combination of factors such as people’s safety, economic activity and security factors allowed us to select specific areas for further demining,” said Yulia Svyrydenko, Minister of Economy of Ukraine, in an interview with 24tv.
Palantir Technologies Inc. is a leading software company and provider of cloud solutions.
Three Ukrainian ministries have signed memorandums with the American company: The Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Digital Transformation.
For example, the company has already helped the Ministry of Education and Science collect disparate educational data, information on the security situation, logistics, and support for territorial communities and educational institutions of almost all levels in one place.
The cooperation between the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Palantir is directly related to the needs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.
