Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture Ihor Bezkaravaisky told Euromaidan Press that the scale of mined areas requires a revision of security approaches. Some of the lands may turn into analogs of the French “Zone Rouge” of the First World War or, a closer example, the exclusion zone around Chernobyl.
“What happens in the 20-kilometer zone along the front line is not described in any international standard. Drones, fiber optics and new equipment are no longer a problem of the future, they are a reality. We estimate that something similar to a large-scale exclusion zone will happen, where we will never be able to work safely,” Bezkaravaisky said.
What’s next?
This prediction is based on the mismatch between existing international protocols and the realities of full-scale war. Previously, the government followed a standard hierarchy of priorities: infrastructure first, then socially important facilities, the economy, and only at the end, forests and natural parks. However, last summer’s large-scale forest fires revealed the ineffectiveness of such approaches. Due to the mined roads, fire trucks could not reach the fire centers, which led to the loss of significant areas of forests. In Kharkiv Oblast, the situation was critical: due to the proximity to the front, it was impossible to attract aviation, and ground vehicles did not have access to mined roads.
The Ministry of Economy decided to abandon “blind adherence to international standards,” which previously put natural parks and forests at the end of the priority list. The ministry is now developing a separate forest program, taking into account the lessons learned.
To optimize the process of land cleanup, the government has introduced the GRIT (“Ground Rehabilitation Through Innovative Technology”) tool based on modeling data from hundreds of sources. The system helps to balance economic, social and environmental factors.
“The supercomputer doesn’t make decisions. It prepares the evidence base. But decisions should be based on evidence, not on feelings, which is what led to the mistake with forests. If you optimize only the economy, you lose the environment and society. If you optimize only the environment, you lose the economy,” explained the Deputy Minister.
Demining: 1 hectare – $1.36 thousand
According to IMSMA, as of May 2026, the total area of war-affected areas reaches 133.30 thousand square kilometers. Of these, 57.90 thousand are agricultural lands – an area larger than the territory of Croatia. Every year, the Ukrainian economy loses $9 billion in lost exports, plus $1.1 billion in losses of local budgets due to taxes.
The situation is also complicated by the rising cost of the work. Over the last two years, the price of demining 1 hectare has increased by 30% and amounts to about $1.36 thousand. Operators are moving from “easy cases” with single craters to cleaning up trenches, complex minefields and areas contaminated by cluster munitions.
“War comes at a cost. The result of war is also costly. When we started the program, we worked with the easiest cases. Now we are moving to fields with trenches, combined minefields and cluster munitions. The work has become much more difficult,” Bezkaravaisky emphasized.
