No new orders for agricultural land demining in Ukraine in May

Ukraine’s humanitarian demining program for agricultural land continued to progress at a critically slow pace in 2026. In May, no new orders were recorded for clearing farmland of mines and other explosive remnants. This was reported by Danilo Hetmantsev, head of the parliamentary committee on finance.

According to the Ministry of Economy, by the end of spring only five demining agreements had been completed, covering a total of 0.6 thousand hectares worth UAH 38.4 million. The total number of contracts since April remained unchanged at 125 agreements covering 24.9 thousand hectares, with a total value of UAH 1.57 billion.

In May, work was ongoing under 27 contracts covering 8.7 thousand hectares, while the Humanitarian Demining Center announced 37 new tenders for an additional 6.5 thousand hectares. The expected value of these works exceeds UAH 760 million.

Hetmantsev noted that the 2026 state budget allocates UAH 2 billion for humanitarian demining, but in 2025 only UAH 1.27 billion of the UAH 2.2 billion allocated was actually used, highlighting low implementation efficiency.

According to the Accounting Chamber, at current rates full clearance of agricultural land could take around 83 years. In total, 9.85 million hectares are potentially contaminated with explosive ordnance, while about 6.4 million Ukrainians live in affected areas. For the agricultural sector, demining speed remains critical for restoring farmland and resuming production in liberated territories.

Tags: Ukraine, demining