Ukraine will face an unprecedented mine problem after the war

When the Russian Armed Forces began the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, few could have predicted that the conflict would turn the country into one of the most heavily mined places in the world.

According to an estimate quoted by Vox's Jen Kirby, as much as 174,000 kilometers or 108,000 miles of Ukrainian territory is littered with mines. That's an area roughly the size of Florida or 30% of Ukraine's territory.

However, it isn't just mining that is covering the contested regions of the country, Ukrainian territory is also covered in unexploded ordnance like artillery shells and cluster munitions—all of which will result in an extremely challenging demining situation. 

"Russia’s full-scale invasion has made Ukraine one of the most mined countries in the world. In less than two years, the conflict has potentially created one of the largest demining challenges since World War II," Kirby wrote.

In August 2023, former Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov spoke with The Guardian's Daniel Boffey and explained the reality of the demining situation that the country was facing. 

The most important takeaway from the interview was that the Ukrainian government believed their country was now the most mined place in the world and that they were going to need more help to deal with the issue.

“Today, Ukraine is the most heavily mined country in the world. Hundreds of kilometers of minefields, millions of explosive devices,” Defense Minister Reznikov explained. 

Reznikov claimed that soldiers were finding five mines for every square meter (or 11 square feet) in places where the Russian military prepared defenses to halt Ukraine’s offensive. This was a problem that ultimately hurt Ukraine's counteroffensive at the time. 

The minefields were traversable according to Reznikov. But the Ukrainian Defense Minister stressed that it was important for the country's allies to “expand and expedite” their training of new sappers. 

Sappers are combat engineers according to Wikipedia, and their duties often include the removal of mines from the battlefield as well as other engineering and explosive tasks. 

It was in improving the country's sapper numbers that the Ukrainian Defense Minister thought there was an opportunity for the country’s allies to step in and provide even more assistance in supplying both training and equipment. 

Ukraine only had five combat engineer battalions at the time Reznikov spoke with The Guardian and they were broken up into roughly 200 brigades of 30 soldiers each. However, that number wasn't enough to cover Ukriane's 1000-kilometer (600-mile) frontlines at the time. 

Reznikov explained that the training of sappers needed to be “fast and systematic” because they were needed in Ukraine “here and now” in order to save lives and ensure that Kyiv could continue its advances against Russia. 

“Russian minefields are a serious obstacle for our troops, but not insurmountable,” the Ukrainian Defense Minister explained to Boffey, and as time revealed, they were too much of an obstacle for Ukraine's summer counteroffensive to overcome. 

“We have skilled sappers and modern equipment, but they are extremely insufficient for the front that stretches hundreds of kilometers in the east and south of Ukraine,” Reznikov explained at the time. 

The Ukrainian Defense Minister went on to say Kyiv had reached a point in its de-occupation campaign where it was in critical need of more mine clearance equipment like minesweeping trawlers as well as Bangalore torpedoes.

Photo Credit Wiki Commons By Miguel Tremblay - Own Work, CC0

“The de-mining coalition is [built] on the principle ‘train and equip’,” Reznikov explained. “Its efficient implementation will bring Ukraine’s victory closer.” 

In November 2023, it became apparent that demining weapons like the Bangalore had been provided to Ukraine according to a report from the Ukrainian military news website Militarnyi, which revealed images of Ukrainian combat engineers wielding the weapons.

Photo Credit: Telegram @NMFTE

Moreover, official images for the Ukrainian President's office showed that the United States had provided Ukraine with one of its modern $4 million dollar Assault Breacher demining vehicles, which is based on the Abrams M1 tank according to Forbes.

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Spc. Tyler Kingsbury

However, the scale of the problem facing Kyiv has been known since at least the turn of the new year when the country’s Prime Minister revealed just how bad the situation was when he told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency that 40% of Ukraine’s land mass was mined. 

"It's currently the largest minefield in the world," he said. "It's not only making it difficult for people to travel but also causing major disruptions in farming, which is one of our main industries,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shamal said. 

How long it will take to demine Ukraine is still unknown. Answering such a question will depend on what the country's borders look like once when the conflict ends. However, it's likely that no matter the result, Ukraine will need a lot of help to demine the country.