Open market

The Humanitarian Demining Market in Ukraine is a new sector that plays a crucial role in clearing contaminated areas of explosive hazards for their safe and productive use.

Humanitarian demining is a type of demining that involves certified activities for the gradual clearance of large land areas outside combat zones (more than 20 km from the front line), including agricultural lands, with quality control and the transfer of cleared territory.

The primary goal of humanitarian demining is the safety of people, enabling them to return to their homes and resume normal life.

As in any other service sector, the humanitarian demining market is based on consumer demand for a specific product—land demining services—and the supply from service providers, i.e., operators capable of delivering these services. During the market’s launch phase, the state plays a vital role in ensuring transparent rules and supporting market participants.

As of December 2024, 139,000 km² of land are considered affected by military operations. A significant portion of this territory consists of agricultural lands, which can be returned to productive use after non-technical surveys if no mines or explosive hazards are found, or after demining. Since the full-scale invasion began, government agencies and humanitarian demining operators have cleared 35,000 km² of land. However, vast areas remain potentially contaminated.

As of early January 2024, more than 70 mine action operators are active in Ukraine, offering demining services and significantly contributing to clearing Ukrainian lands. Demining is an expensive service, so to stimulate the market, the Ukrainian state budget for 2024 allocated 3 billion UAH for compensating farmers for humanitarian demining costs, with 1 billion UAH budgeted for 2025. This support is expected to drive the development of Ukraine’s mine action sector.

The humanitarian demining market allows any individual or legal entity to request land demining services from private operators. To accelerate the demining process and support market growth, the Government has adopted a Procedure for using state budget funds to compensate for humanitarian demining costs of agricultural land.

Under this procedure, demining service procurement is conducted through the Prozorro electronic public procurement system. Any certified commercial operator can submit a bid in an open tender for clearing a designated area. The Government fully covers 100% of demining costs from the state budget.

Key objectives for developing the humanitarian demining market in Ukraine include:

1. Reducing land clearance costs: Establishing mechanisms to accelerate and lower the cost of clearing contaminated land.
2. Developing and scaling the production of demining equipment and machinery: Supporting domestic manufacturers of specialized equipment.
3. Attracting international support: Collaborating with foreign partners for expertise exchange and financial assistance.

Procedure for compensating agricultural land demining costs:

1. Agricultural producer (Farmer) submits an application to the State Agrarian Register (SAR), where an initial verification is conducted to confirm land ownership and prior non-technical survey results indicating contamination.
2. The Humanitarian Demining Center (Center) conducts an additional review of submitted documents.
3. The Center determines the expected demining cost and initiates service procurement.
4. The Center informs the farmer about the completed tender and the winning operator.
5. The Center transfers 100% of the demining cost to a designated account.
6. The mine action operator starts demining after full fund reservation.
7. The operator completes demining and submits confirmation documents to the Center: work completion certificate and an inspection report of the cleared land.
8. The Humanitarian Demining Center verifies the documents and forwards them to the bank.
9. The bank processes the payment to the operator.

Farmers whose land has already been cleared by certified mine action operators between February 24, 2022, and April 15, 2024, can also apply for compensation.

To receive compensation, applicants must:

• Complete the compensation application form.
• Send the completed application to the Humanitarian Demining Center via email: ([email protected]).

Important: The email must include copies of documents confirming demining activities:

• Contract for demining services.
• Service completion certificate.
• Proof of payment for demining services.

The Humanitarian Demining Center reviews the documents, compiles a list of eligible farmers, and submits it to the Commission for Compensation of Humanitarian Demining Costs under the Ministry of Economy, which makes the final decision.

Compensation will be granted only once per contaminated land parcel.

The program applies across all areas of Ukraine with confirmed or potentially contaminated land.