A standardised procedure for planning humanitarian demining has been introduced in Ukraine
For communities affected by hostilities, contamination of land with explosive ordnance remains a serious obstacle to the safe return of people, the restoration of housing, and access to land and local infrastructure. In October 2026, the Government approved a unified procedure for planning humanitarian demining. From now on, community needs, the capacities of mine action operators and available funding must be coordinated within a single annual plan.
What is changing
The Mine Action Centre of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine will play a central role in the planning process. It will collect information on:
- contaminated or potentially contaminated areas;
- community needs;
- the capacities of mine action operators;
- available funding.
Based on this information, a unified annual humanitarian demining plan will be developed and approved by the National Mine Action Authority.
A unified planning calendar has been established
The new procedure sets specific deadlines for all stakeholders involved in the process:
- by 1 October, operators must provide information on their technical capacities and available personnel;
- by 15 November, regional military administrations must submit information on community needs;
- by 1 December, the available funding amounts must be determined;
- by 10 December, a draft plan must be prepared;
- by 30 December, the plan must be approved and published.
This means that community needs must be collected throughout the year and submitted through regional military administrations for inclusion in the following year's plan.
Information on demining activities will be made public
Within 30 days of the plan's approval, the Mine Action Centre must publish three separate lists of:
- areas designated for non-technical survey;
- areas designated for demining operations;
- areas where quality control of previously cleared land will be carried out.
The lists will be updated throughout the year. This will make it easier to understand whether activities are planned in a particular area and what stage they have reached. It is important to emphasise that the inclusion of an area on the list for survey does not mean that it is already safe to use.
Monitoring the implementation of the plan
If an operator fails to meet the established deadlines or complete the required scope of work, it will receive a written notice requiring the violations to be remedied within 15 days. If the operator fails to do so, the work may be reassigned to another operator. This mechanism is intended to reduce the risk of situations where an area is included in the plan but demining activities do not actually progress.
Which territories are not covered
The new mechanism does not apply to:
- areas where hostilities are ongoing;
- temporarily occupied territories.
Therefore, even where information about mine contamination is available, humanitarian demining can only take place once the security situation allows operations to be carried out in the relevant area.
