Ukraine to train 500 demining specialists year - Pavliuk

First Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksandr Pavliuk said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"As you know, our capabilities are not enough to cover the need [for demining] in full. Ukraine has its own educational institutions that train demining specialists, but their capacity is not enough due to the scale of contamination. Therefore, the Ministry of Defense constantly works to attract assistance from allied and partner countries. One of the examples of attracting international experience in the field of training and professional development of deminers is the launch of a joint project by the Ministry of Defense with Tetra Tech, which operates on behalf of the US Department of State. The result of our cooperation will be the creation of a modern training center with a capacity to train 500 humanitarian demining specialists per year," Pavliuk said, adding that they will be trained according to international standards and will be able to use the most modern methods and equipment for demining.

The First Deputy Minister also noted that during the meeting with Tetra Tech representatives, they discussed the establishment of the center and its uniqueness, as Ukraine has not had the opportunity to focus on training humanitarian demining specialists until now. The project will create a continuous closed cycle in which people will be trained from the initial to the highest possible level of EOD-3+.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Ukraine has approved a plan to demine agricultural land in nine regions affected by hostilities. In total, more than 470 thousand hectares of land are subject to survey and, if necessary, demining.

As of the beginning of May, about 70 thousand hectares of agricultural land have already been surveyed as part of humanitarian demining in Ukraine.