Scottish charity to double staff in Ukraine amid significant challenges to clear mines
Its as the one-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion approaches
Last updated 11th Feb 2023
The world's largest demining charity, the Halo Trust, is doubling its staff in Ukraine this year as it faces an "epochal" challenge to clear liberated areas of explosives.
As the one-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion approaches, the charity is undertaking a "huge" training programme to expand its staff in the country to around 1,200 this summer.
It is impossible to know exactly how many mines, shells and rockets require to be disposed of, but the process is likely to take decades.
Chief executive James Cowan said the generally understood rule is that for every day of war, a month-long clear-up is needed.
Speaking at the trust's headquarters in Dumfriesshire, he told the PA news agency: "The area the Russians have occupied is about the size of the whole of the United Kingdom. It's absolutely vast.
"They're firing about 40,000 artillery rounds a day, of which about 10% are not going off. So there are still live rounds buried in the ground.
"They are laying landmines on an extraordinary scale. They're using cluster munitions, using rockets, they're using missiles."
The Halo Trust has been active in Ukraine since 2015, when conflict in the east broke out.
Recently, it has been working in the Kyiv region to clear anti-vehicle mines laid by Russian troops during fighting there in March and April 2022.
Staff are currently examining the situation around the southern city of Kherson, following Russia's withdrawal from it in November last year.
Mr Cowan said: "When the war began in earnest in February, we had to withdraw people.
"Some ended up having to join the Ukrainian army, some ended up with other responsibilities, and we've had to rebuild the programme.
"We went down to about 200 staff, and now we're at 630.
"By the summer, we'll be at 1,200. It's really a huge programme of training, of re-equipping, of pivoting from Donbas to around Kyiv and then expanding to Kharkiv and to Mykolaiv."
The Halo Trust, which operates in 28 countries around the world, trains local staff for its mine-clearing work.