The authorities of the Kherson region promise to demine the right bank by the end of 2025

Demining on the territory of the Mykolaiv region, archival photo NikVesti

As of September 2024, 53% of the right bank of the Kherson region has been demined.

Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson regional military administration, told about this on the telethon Edyni Novyny.

By the end of 2025, he promised to demine the entire right bank of the region, but noted that this would depend on the security situation.

«53% of the right bank of the Kherson Oblast has already been demined. Very fast pace. With this pace and the security situation, we will finish demining by the end of 2025,» said Oleksandr Prokudin.

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Currently, there are approximately 1,000 sappers working in the region, who have already destroyed more than 203,000 explosive objects, he added. In total, sappers have already examined more than 365 thousand hectares in the region, 65% of which are fields.

«We are currently working on the creation of a demining battalion on the basis of our territorial defense. And there is a second option — the formation of mini-squads to perform these works,» he said.

How is the demining of the Mykolaiv Oblast going on?

Ukraine recently updated the country's priority demining plan. According to it, more than 512,000 hectares of agricultural land are subject to priority demining, of which 44,000 hectares are in the Mykolaiv region, the Ministry of Economy reported. They also noted that the region is a priority in demining because of its fertile lands.

Since the beginning of the great war, 754,000 hectares, which is 30% of the entire region, have been potentially mined in Mykolaiv Oblast, the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration reported.

As of April 2024, sappers have already surveyed and demined almost a third of this territory — 211 thousand hectares of the territory of the region, said the first deputy head of Mykolaiv RMA Heorhii Reshetilov.

Dmytro Komarov, the author of the «World Inside Out.Ukraine» project, visited the mined territories of the Mykolaiv region and showed the work of local sappers. NikVesti also told about a farmer from Kyselivka who is trying to demine his fields on his own.

About 30,000-35,000 hectares of land remain mined in the Bashtanka district of the Mykolaiv region, part of which was under occupation. And in the village of Maksymivka of the Pervomaisk community of the Mykolaiv region, locals live with an unexploded shell under the foundation of the house.

In general, the demining situation in Maksymivka is currently critical. A year after liberation from the Russian occupiers, the village was demined by only 40%.

It is known that the company «Demining of Ukraine» has developed a plant capable of demining the Mykolaiv region for three months.

Read also the article NikVesti:

• «The pace has slowed down: How has the demining situation in the Mykolaiv Oblast changed over the course of a year?».
• «Either we work, however risky, or we end this story»: why the farmers of Mykolaiv Oblast continue to work, despite the mine danger».