The potentially dangerous area contaminated with mines and explosive objects has been reduced by half, to 185 thousand square kilometers
At this time, the dangerous territory from 300 thousand square kilometers was reduced to 185 thousand square kilometers. This was reported during the briefing by the Head of the Department of Pyrotechnic Works and Humanitarian Drainage of the Emergency Response Department Oleg Bondar. About the involvement of the National Police and the National Guard in the demining works were told by the Head of the Department of the Explosive Service of the NPU Dmytro Karakurkchi and the Head of the Engineering Service of the State Department of NGU Oleksandr Tsikra.
“As a result of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, almost half of the territory of our state was potentially contaminated with mines and explosive objects. At this time, we have managed to reduce the potentially dangerous area from 300,000 square kilometers to 185 thousand square kilometers. Along with this, the situation is complicated by constant shelling of a number of settlements and regions of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, more than 25,000 engagements have been made, more than 192,000 explosive items have been discovered and recovered, including more than 2,100 aircraft bombs. The territory of almost 70 thousand hectares has been surveyed,” said Oleg Bondar.
Also, according to him, agricultural land is being examined for the presence of explosive objects: “48 630 hectares of agricultural land in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine have already been examined. The efforts of the fire technicians of the State Emergency Service are currently focused on the territories of Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv regions, as well as the elimination of the consequences of constant shelling in Kharkiv Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv regions,” Oleg Bondar noted.
According to the State Emergency Service, 152 people were injured by explosive objects in Ukraine, including 13 children, 39 people were killed, four of them children.
According to the Deputy Head of the Department of the Explosive Service of the National Police Dmitry Karakurkchi, the National Police's explosives department seized more than 120 thousand explosive items.
“Units of the Explosive Service of the National Police carry out an inspection of the scene for the facts of rocket and bomb attacks and artillery shelling, demining of de-occupied territories. More than 120,000 explosive objects have already been seized, about 10,000 hectares have been inspected, the number of departures is about 15,000,” Dmytro Karakurkchi said.
At the same time, explosives technicians of the National Police conducted an inspection of schools and educational institutions for explosive items before the start of the school year.
In turn, the head of the engineering service of the Main Directorate of the National Guard Oleksandr Tsikra noted that 28 demining groups have been created from the engineering units of the NGU, which are involved in the implementation of tasks on operational response to the detection of explosive objects. 16 groups have been identified for the implementation of humanitarian demining tasks.
“To date, 16 754 explosive objects have been discovered, defused and destroyed by the NGU mine teams. The basis of the quantitative indicators are anti-tank, anti-personnel mines, missiles, artillery ammunition, anti-aircraft missiles and bombs, mine-traps,” he said.
According to Oleksandr Tsikra, the mining teams of NGU performed tasks in 36 settlements of Buchanska, Irpin, Makarivska, Gostomel, Nemishaiv, Borodyan territorial communities of the Kyiv region, in cooperation with the State Emergency Service were involved in the implementation of demining tasks at the State Specialization Center enterprise “Chernobyl NPP”.
In addition to carrying out direct demining, the engineering units of the National Guard now carry out tasks of reconnaissance, installation of engineering barriers, destruction of certain objects, fortification equipment, installation of protective structures, participation in the elimination of natural and man-made emergencies.
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Photo by Andriy Novytskyi
