Ukraine loses $11.2 billion annually due to mine contamination. This is stated in a joint study by the Ministry of Economy By the Ministry of Economy and the Tony Blair Institute, reports Komersant ukrainskyi
.
The study reports hundreds of businesses in frontline and de-occupied cities that cannot operate and more than 1,000 victims of explosive ordnance. In particular, the study cites the situation at a tomato paste factory in Kherson as an example, which occurred immediately after the city was de-occupied by the Ukrainian armed forces. At the time, employees were rebuilding the plant after the occupation, but could not resume work because the land on which they grew tomatoes was mined.
“In fact, more than 25 per cent of the country, or more than 139,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian land, needs to be surveyed. Compared to 2021, mines and explosive ordnance have an annual impact on Ukraine’s GDP of US$11.2 billion. For frontline regions such as Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Chernihiv, this impact exceeds 20 per cent of pre-war GDP. Exports are down by $8.9 billion annually, and regional tax revenues are down by $1.1 billion,” the study says.
The Ukrainian government also agrees that demining the territory of Ukraine is a priority and important task not only for the country itself but also for the global economy. Moreover, the Cabinet of Ministers has set itself the goal of returning most of the replaced territories to industrial and agricultural use.
In addition, the document emphasises that it is important to make more efforts to expand foreign assistance in the area of demining, as well as to create new sources of funding. After all, despite the clear social, economic and humanitarian need to demine Ukraine as soon as possible, funding remains insufficient. Out of all official development assistance (ODA), global mine action funding in 2022 was only US$798 million, of which Ukraine received less than 50 per cent.
The joint study found that out of the $34.6 billion needed to fully demine Ukraine, $50-200 million would be needed for non-technical surveys, $8.9 billion for technical surveys, and approximately $25.5 billion to finance land clearance.
This money could be recovered by Ukraine in less than three and a half years after the land is fully cleared, the report says.