(MENAFN- UkrinForm) As of today, around 156,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory could be contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance.
That's according to Colonel Ruslan Berehulia, chief of the Defense Ministry's Main Department of Mine Action, Civil Defense and Environmental Security, who spoke at a briefing on Tuesday, Ukrinform reports.
"In 2023, 174,000 square kilometers were considered potentially polluted. These are mainly territories that are both de-occupied and those that are under occupation, where hostilities took place or on which the enemy had set up mine-explosive barriers. At the same time, through the joint work of executive authorities involved in demining, the national mine action authority, and our operators, thanks to a non-technical survey, we learned that by the end of 2023, there's no evidence that some 18,000 square kilometers of territory are contaminated. Therefore, today the area of likely contaminated territories is 156,000 square km," Berehulia said.
Read also: Ukrainian sappers clear 4,196 items of unexploded ordnance over past week
He also emphasized that contamination by explosive objects significantly affects the safety of the civilian population, agricultural and industrial development, as well as socio-economic growth in the affected regions.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, MOD demining teams last week removed and neutralized 4,196 explosive objects in the liberated areas.
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