Since the launch of its aggression against Ukraine, the Russian Federation has been using weapons prohibited by the Ottawa Convention, resulting in heavy mine contamination of parts of Ukraine’s territories. The Russian invasion has led to 30% of Ukrainian lands currently at risk of landmines and other explosive ordnance contamination. A sad reality is that Ukraine is now the most mine-contaminated country globally since World War II.

The EU has continued to show support to help Ukraine in tackling its challenges on mine action. The priority is clear: to safely return as much land back to civilian use as fast as possible. A crucial pre-condition for the return of economic activity for people to return to their homes and communities. Together with its member states, the EU is providing more than EUR 110 million to support humanitarian demining in Ukraine. This includes more than EUR 35 million of ongoing support financed through EU rapid response and humanitarian assistance.

Shedding light on the results of the Russian invasion of Ukraine will continue to be our priority. We will not stop until Ukrainian land is safe again. | Ambassador Thomas Wagner, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation

To showcase the EU support to humanitarian mining action in Ukraine, the EU Delegation in Geneva initiated and co-organized a UN side event together with the Mission of Ukraine. We had the opportunity to, in detail, discuss and present the financial support provided by the EU member states together with the following panellists:  

• Ruslan Beregulya, Head of the Main Department of Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety, Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
• Io Schmid, European Commission, Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI)
• Ségolène Laubert, Partnership Manager Europe, HALO Trust
• Rory Logan, Head of Strategies, Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD)
• Paul Heslop, UNDP Ukraine Mine Action Programme Manager