Landmines will hurt Ukraine for years, UN official warns

Vast quantities of landmines being used in Ukraine will severely impact industry and agriculture for years to come, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) warned on Wednesday.

The head of the UNDP's landmine clearance programme, Paul Heslop, compared the developing situation in Ukraine to post-World War II Europe. Heslop estimated that up to €275 million ($301 million) will be required per year over a period of at least five years to clear the landmines in the country.

Ukraine has been locked in a bloody war ever since Russia launched an all-out military invasion of the country in 2022.

The organization called for a massive aid and rebuilding programme for Ukraine akin to the Marshall Plan, the huge US effort to rebuild Europe after World War II.

Heslop said the number of landmines in Ukraine is difficult to estimate. Both Russia and Ukraine have used anti-tank mines, and Russia has also used anti-personnel mines.

Anti-personnel mines explode when they are touched and can have severe long-term consequences for civilians such as children who pick them up out of curiosity or by farmers ploughing their fields.

Russia has not signed an international agreement outlawing anti-personnel mines.

Heslop also noted that, before the Russian invasion, Ukraine was the largest supplier of grain to the UN's World Food Program (WFP). He said the WFP has worked with 150,000 farmers in the country.

Heslop said production must be restarted as soon as possible to supply the work with food - but that thousands of experts are needed to check the fields for landmines.

For now many farmers inspected the ground themselves, sometimes at the risk of their lives. Some farmers have installed detectors in front of tractors in hopes of clearing their fields themselves.