The director of the Ukroboronprom State Concern, Volodymyr Koval, said in an interview to ‘Bukvy’ that more than 200,000 square kilometers of the territory of Ukraine are contaminated with landmines and other explosive devices.

The Ukroboronprom State Concern is a strategic manufacturer of weapons and military hardware in Ukraine. The Concern consolidates state unitary enterprises, including state enterprises, in the strategic sectors of the national defense industry, employing about 67,000 highly skilled workers.

One of the directions of its activities is de-mining of the Ukrainian territory.

Ukrainian sappers examine and destroy thousands of land mines and unexploded ammunition in order to save people’s lives, restore the usual scale of business activities, support Ukraine’s economy and world food security.

According to Koval, the priority now is to speed up the cleaning of territories with the help of innovations. If to use only the old methods, the process will take at least 10 years.

The work involves different state agencies and international partners.

Explosive devices are dangerous for the local population. In addition, agricultural land makes the biggest part of the contaminated areas. It means that farmers cannot cultivate these lands and gather crops, which leads to the budget losses and food insecurity in the world.