In the fields and forests of Ukraine, a dangerous new arms race is unfolding beneath the soil. For decades, humanitarian demining was a slow, methodical process of uncovering buried threats. But as the conflict in Ukraine evolves, the tools of war are changing faster than the tools used to clean them up.
Military forces are now utilizing 3D printers to produce basic mine models near the front lines, which are then assembled, filled with explosives, and deployed via drones. This shift toward remote delivery—using artillery, rockets, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles—means that landmines are no longer just buried by hand; they are rained down upon the landscape in massive quantities.
As deminers race to keep up with military technology, they are facing a generation of “smart” weapons designed specifically to defeat the people trying to remove them. Paul Heslop, Head of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Ukraine, warns that some of these high-tech mines are equipped with sensors that can detect the approach of a person or a vehicle and detonate automatically.
More concerning are those with magnetic influence capabilities. These devices can be triggered by the very magnetic fields produced by the detectors deminers use to find them. “The piece of technology you’re using to find the mine may actually activate the mine,” Heslop said.
The Scale of Contamination
The impact of this technological leap is measured in both economic ruin and human tragedy. UNMAS estimated last year that over 20 per cent of Ukraine’s land—roughly 139,000 square kilometres—is contaminated by mines or unexploded ordnance. This hazardous zone affects more than six million people and is estimated to cost the national economy over $11 billion a year.
While some mines are designed to kill, many anti-personnel landmines are engineered specifically to maim, creating a lifelong burden for the survivor and the state. In Ukraine alone, You’ll see now more than 60,000 war amputees.
Beyond the physical danger, there is the psychological weight of “perceived contamination.” When a community believes their land is mined, the fear alone renders fields unusable and villages inaccessible, effectively freezing the local economy and isolating civilians even in areas where no mines may actually exist.
Redefining the Goal of Mine Action
Traditionally, the success of humanitarian demining was measured by output: the number of mines neutralized or the total square meters cleared. Yet, the sheer volume of current contamination has forced a shift in strategy.
“I experience the other thing you’ve got to remember in mine clearance, or in humanitarian mine clearance, the goal is not necessarily to clear the mines; the goal is to indicate that the land can be used for more productive purposes,” Heslop said.
This pragmatic approach focuses on two objectives: proving that certain areas are safe for use, and identifying high-probability danger zones to prioritize clearing. The process is often hindered by “high metal areas”—battle zones littered with thousands of pieces of shrapnel and artillery fragments that confuse standard sensors. This noise makes it tricky to distinguish a harmless piece of scrap from a lethal landmine, rendering the process “inherently inefficient.”
To bypass this, new technologies are being deployed that ignore metal entirely, instead scanning for the chemical signature of explosives or the specific density of plastic casings used in modern mines.
Blending AI with “Old Ways”
The solution to the modern mine threat is not found in a single piece of software, but in a hybrid approach. Heslop urges deminers not to be “too dogmatic” and to combine cutting-edge AI with legacy techniques.
Artificial intelligence is now being used to process vast amounts of data in seconds—a task that previously took experienced leaders hours of manual work—to determine which areas should be prioritized for clearance. When paired with advanced scanning, AI can shrink a suspected minefield the size of a football pitch down to a target area the size of a goalkeeper’s six-yard box, drastically reducing costs and time.
However, technology alone cannot solve the problem of human trust. To convince a skeptical farmer that a field is safe for a tractor, deminers are pairing AI and drones with mine rollers—heavy, physical drums that trigger mines mechanically. “It’s a combination of going back to old ideas and seeing if we can use them, looking at new ideas and new technologies,” Heslop said.
Prevention Through Connectivity
While technology has increased the lethality of landmines, it has also revolutionized prevention. The ubiquity of smartphones has turned civilians into a frontline early-warning system. In the past, reporting a suspicious object required complex communication chains; today, a civilian can take a photo and send it to experts instantly.
This capability allows teams to quickly distinguish between a hazardous item and harmless debris, such as an old oil filter. The impact of this shift is stark. Heslop noted that a mine awareness program in Afghanistan, which originally aimed to reach 200,000 people, ended up reaching more than five million thanks to the communication tools available to the population.
Despite these gains, the global trend remains grim. Since 2015, the rate of new landmine contamination has consistently outpaced the rate of clearance. As the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action is marked each April 4, the focus remains on winning a race where the finish line is constantly moving.
The next critical phase of this effort involves the continued testing of robotic technologies by the UNDP in Ukraine, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and the Kyiv School of Economics, to further remove human operators from the most dangerous zones.
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