Ukraine will receive $240 million for humanitarian demining by end of year

This was reported to Ukrinform by Yulia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

The minister said that at the recent International Conference on the Reconstruction of Ukraine, held in London, a separate discussion panel was devoted to demining.

"We raise this issue at every meeting with our foreign partners. The largest amounts of assistance have been announced by the United States, the EU, Japan, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands - more than 30 countries in total," she said.

Svyrydenko mentioned that according to the World Bank report, Ukraine will need more than $37.5 billion for humanitarian demining, and Ukraine has already received confirmation from its partners that it will receive almost $244 million for humanitarian demining by the end of the year.

"Separately, the United States is currently discussing the provision of up to $84 million to support a private operator to work in Ukraine. We have also opened an account under the United24 global initiative for humanitarian demining. We have just started fundraising, but we have already raised more than UAH 17 million ( in equivalent). These funds will be used to purchase machinery and equipment," she added.

However, the minister also points out that even with such a good pace, Ukraine is still far from the billions that the World Bank is talking about.

"To attract even more aid, we need an analog of the defense Ramstein, but in the field of humanitarian demining. This is important so that we can move quickly and clear 80% of potentially contaminated land and return it to use in 10 years. This is an ambitious goal for which we are uniting the efforts of our partners," she emphasized.