Nibulon met the deadlines and independently demined 98% of its fields in Mykolaiv region

Fields in the Shirokiv Territorial Community, October 2024, photo NikVesti

As of October 2024, the company Nibulon has demined 5.5 thousand hectares of fields in the Mykolaiv region by its own forces. These are 5.5 thousand hectares in Snihurivka, Shyroke, Novopavlivka and Novopetrivka territorial communities.

This is stated in the article NikVesti «We didn't wait for them to do it for us»: how in just one year Nibulon cleared 98% of its fields in the Mykolaiv region.»

«In total, we had 25,500 hectares potentially dangerous since the beginning of the war. Of these, 20,000 hectares are still under temporary occupation. That is, we do not have access to them. These are the lands of the branches of Kupiansk, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions,» told Mykhailo Rizak, director of interaction with authorities of the Nibulon company.

After receiving a license for non-technical demining in April 2023, Nibulon began to survey the fields of the de-occupied Snihurivka district as a priority, he added. This is more than 5,000 hectares, of which less than 2% turned out to be contaminated, Mykhailo Rizak clarified. Such crops as sunflower, rapeseed, winter wheat and winter barley are grown on these fields.

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«Basically, our plots of land are places where combat took place with the use of Grad rocket launchers, artillery shells and mortar mines. That is, there were rips, drones flew by somewhere,» Mykhailo Rizak commented on the condition of the fields at the beginning of demining.

Currently, the company has only 2% of its fields in the Mykolaiv region left to demine. This is 134.5 hectares of land in the Shyroke territorial community.

«We 100% met the deadlines and fulfilled the plan to return part of our branch to land cultivation. It should also be understood that Nibulon is a company that exports only 5% of its own agricultural products, the other 95% are small and medium-sized farmers, that is, about 3,500 small and medium-sized farmers who sell products to us. We are interested in these farmers returning to the cultivation of the land as soon as possible,» said Mykhailo Rizak.

How is the demining of the Mykolaiv region 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 Mykolaiv Oblast.

As of December 2023, 30% of the territory of the Mykolaiv region has been mined. In total, it is 754 thousand hectares of land.

At the same time, they are working on demining in the region. For example, as of October 2023, 13 thousand 40 hectares, including 9 thousand 25 hectares of agricultural land, have been demined in the Mykolaiv region.

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%.

Read also the article NikVesti «Decades are needed: How the demining process of the Mykolaiv region continues.»

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

It was also reported that by the end of 2024, a third of all demining machines in Ukraine will be Japanese-made.