Ukraine is developing AI demining system: details

Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko said this at the opening of the People, Teams and Technologies for Mine Safety in Ukraine photo exhibition, Ukrinform reports.

Palantir is a global leader in data analytics software.

"We cooperate with Palantir. They help us develop an approach to demining using artificial intelligence. We use this to predict areas that need demining and identify the most dangerous areas. I think that by about mid-summer we will be able to demonstrate approaches based on artificial intelligence data to build a proper demining system," Svyrydenko said, calling it a revolutionary approach.

"If this experience is successful, we will be able to disseminate it globally to promote mine action," the official added.

According to Svyrydenko, the government would like to attract more innovation to the demining market. To this end, it is planning to hold a hackathon for Ukrainian teams that can come up with ideas and provide them with funding proposals.

What is known about demining in Ukraine

In March 2023, the UNDP said that the area of mined territory in Ukraine was 4.5 times the size of Switzerland.

In August, the Ministry of Economy said that it hoped to clear 80% of the land and return it to use in 10 years.

In the same month, Ukraine's first domestically produced demining machine received a certificate of conformity. This development allows for the effective disposal of anti-personnel and detection of anti-tank mines.

On September 22, it became known that Ukraine would launch a market for humanitarian demining services through Prozorro.

In January, sappers inspected over 21,000 hectares of agricultural land for explosives, most of it in the Kherson region.

To accelerate demining in Ukraine, the government introduced a single unified certification procedure for mine action operators at a meeting on February 2.

On February 22, Ukraine unveiled its third domestic demining vehicle.

On February 29, the State Emergency Service announced that 156,000 km² of territory in Ukraine is potentially mined. The most heavily mined areas are the Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Kherson regions.

In early March, it became known that the government would compensate farmers for 80% of demining costs.