The Accounting Chamber has conducted an assessment of humanitarian mine clearance of agricultural lands in Ukraine and identified a number of critical issues in this area. According to the audit results, the current mine clearance system remains fragmented, ineffective, and does not match the scale of the mine threat. At the current pace, complete clearance of the territories could take up to 83 years.
This is reported by Finway
Scale of Contamination and Clearance Rates
Combat operations have affected about a quarter of Ukraine’s territory — over 13.9 million hectares. Among them, 9.85 million hectares of agricultural land in ten regions remain contaminated with explosive remnants of war. This accounts for nearly a quarter of all agricultural land in the country.
The restoration of safe use of these lands is progressing extremely slowly. From 2022 to July 2025, only 7.75 thousand hectares were cleared according to national standards, which constitutes 0.08% of the total area of contaminated lands. An additional 403 thousand hectares were returned to farmers through a simplified procedure. At the current clearance rates, the completion of the process could stretch over 83 years.
Economic and Social Impact of Mine Threat
Widespread mine contamination significantly impacts the economy and the safety of citizens. According to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and the Ministry of Economy, Ukraine loses about 11 billion dollars in GDP each year. Due to inaccessible fields, agricultural product exports have decreased by 4.3 billion dollars annually, and the budget is missing over 1.1 billion dollars in tax revenues. The State Ecological Inspection has estimated the damage from land contamination and pollution at over 1.1 trillion hryvnias.
In addition to the economic dimension, land contamination with explosives threatens the well-being and lives of millions of Ukrainian citizens.
Approximately 6.4 million Ukrainians live in potentially dangerous areas.
Planning and Staffing Issues
In 2023–2024, the mine clearance process was carried out under two planning directions: special plans for agricultural lands developed by the State Emergency Service and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, and plans for clearing de-occupied territories, which covered all contaminated areas, including agricultural lands. However, the procedure for developing, monitoring, and controlling such plans was not normatively defined, and the criteria for prioritizing tasks were not enshrined in law. This led to the inclusion of non-priority or already surveyed areas in the plans.
Over 91% of mine clearance work in 2022–2024 was performed by the State Emergency Service and the Ministry of Defense. Work was delayed due to combat operations, limited access to territories, and a shortage of personnel and equipment. In 2023, 60% of the planned areas were surveyed, of which two-thirds were cleared, and in 2024, this figure rose to 89% of cleared areas among those surveyed. However, the staffing and technical support for the units remained at a low level.
As of January 1, 2025, there were 73 registered operators of demining activities, but only 24 were actually operational, accounting for 9% of all work. Only four operators had the full range of permits. The number of deminers is 1,700 — this is insufficient for systematic mine clearance.
In 2024, a budget program was launched to compensate farmers for costs related to humanitarian mine clearance. Of the planned 3 billion hryvnias, only 434.5 million were allocated. The audit showed that the compensation mechanism is complex and excessively bureaucratic — by April 2024, no farmer had received reimbursement.