A Blog by Jonathan Low

 

Aug 23, 2022

US Provides $89 Million To Help Clear Landmines In Ukraine

Some estimates suggest it could take a decade to clear all the mines Russia has laid in Ukraine. 

Ukraine is a signatory to the anti-personnel landmines convention. JL 

Lara Seligman reports in Politico:

The money will fund 100 de-mining teams in Ukraine for the next year. The U.S. will also help Kyiv identify the areas of greatest contamination, and help train and equip Ukrainian forces tasked with removing the mines. “As Russian forces retreated from Northern Ukraine, they had booby traps and improvised explosive devices in food facilities, car trunks, washing machines, doorways, hospital beds and even the bodies of those killed by the invasion. " They “deliberately hid explosives in toys and shiny objects that attract children’s attention.”The Biden administration will provide $89 million to help Kyiv clear land mines that now litter huge swaths of Ukraine after Russia’s February invasion, according to a senior State Department official.

 

The money will fund 100 de-mining teams in Ukraine for the next year, the official told reporters on Tuesday. The U.S. will also help Kyiv identify the areas of greatest contamination, and help train and equip Ukrainian forces tasked with removing the mines, the official said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the same time as the de-mining effort, the U.S. military is providing Ukraine with Claymore anti-personnel munitions, which in a certain configuration are considered land mines under the Ottawa Treaty. President Joe Biden earlier this year committed to limiting the use of anti-personnel land mines in most places around the world, reversing a Trump-era expansion of the policy.

The State Department official said that the Claymore munitions being provided to Ukraine were configured so that a “person in the loop” physically sets off the munition, rather than using a tripwire. In this configuration, the munitions are not considered land mines, the person said.

Experts believe massive amounts of unexploded ordnance will remain in the ground in Ukraine for years to come, the official said.

“We expect this to be one of the largest land mine and unexploded ordnance challenges in decades,” the official said. The fact that Russia’s invasion has also created Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II underscores the urgency of de-mining populated areas before nearly 13 million Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced persons can return to their homes.”

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