A Second Demining Team Takes Over Operations in Ukraine

9 September 2026 / Orlane Lagarde

In the Kharkiv region, deminers are preparing to enter a field where fighting has left behind numerous items of unexploded ordnance. Their steps are measured, their movements precise. They work meticulously as part of ongoing mine clearance in Ukraine, so that, one day, communities can safely farm this land again.

These deminers have been trained and formed by FSD and are now part of the Ukrainian Center for Humanitarian Protection (UCHP). FSD has been supporting the Ukrainian NGO in developing its demining capacity since 2025, with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Thanks to this transfer of teams, UCHP is able to carry out humanitarian demining following National and International (IMAS) standards, ensuring both quality and efficiency of operations.

This is precisely the aim of the project: to transfer the skills needed so that humanitarian demining can gradually be carried out locally, independently and sustainably.

An FSD deminer shows the UCHP team how a large-loop detector works. Used mainly in former combat areas where unexploded ordnance may be present, this detector can search deeper into the ground and cover a wider area.

For UCHP, this is therefore not just about learning how to detect and dispose of explosive ordnance. Alongside FSD, the Ukrainian NGO is developing the full range of skills needed to survey potentially contaminated areas, raise awareness among communities, plan and conduct demining operations and manage the administrative and financial aspects needed to sustain these activities over the long term.

Since the project began in 2025, UCHP has already developed a wide range of skills. Its teams have conducted 188 non-technical surveys and delivered 481 explosive ordnance risk education sessions, reaching 12,741 people.

And the project has now reached a new milestone: a second team of deminers trained by FSD is now fully operational. With the support of this additional team capable of carrying operations in the field, they already cleared nearly 45,000 square metres of land in June alone.

UCHP is gradually completing the steps needed to operate independently in Ukraine. The organisation is now accredited by the national mine action authority to conduct survey, risk education and demining activities.

The journey is only just beginning for the Ukrainian NGO. A third demining team will soon join the project, marking another step towards autonomous and sustainable Ukrainian demining capacity.

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