“L’Ucraina è la più grande sfida a Landmine dalla seconda guerra mondiale”, afferma il capo della più grande organizzazione di sminuzzo del mondo

From the article: Russia’s full-scale invasion may have turned Ukraine into the world’s largest minefield.

As of March 2025, Ukraine’s mine-affected land spans an estimated 139,000 square kilometers — or 23% of its territory — covering more ground than all of Greece and posing an immense threat to civilian life and recovery efforts.

Clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance is essential to preventing civilian casualties and enabling the safe use of land and infrastructure, fostering the country’s recovery and future development.

Demining in Ukraine is primarily carried out by the State Emergency Service and the Armed Forces, with both international and domestic non-governmental organizations contributing to the effort.

The world’s largest demining non-governmental organization, the HALO Trust, has operated in Ukraine since 2015 and scaled up its efforts after the full-scale invasion began.

The HALO Trust has cleared nearly 7.9 million square meters of land and located over 41,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance since Feb. 24, 2022.

The organization has grown from a small team of 400 in Kramatorsk, a front-line city in Donetsk Oblast, to a workforce of 1,500 people operating in eight regions across Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent spoke with James Cowan, the CEO of HALO Trust, about the organization’s ongoing effort to rid Ukraine of landmines, his assessment of how long it might take, and what new technology could revolutionize the process.

Since it is largely Ukrainians placing mines in order to defend themselves from an invader who greatly outnumbers them, I find it hard to get terribly upset about this. It’s a necessity, not a choice