AI and remote-controlled machines speed up Ukraine's mine-clearing efforts

In reclaimed Ukrainian territories, demining teams are turning to advanced tools such as drones, AI-driven image processing and remote-controlled machinery to accelerate the removal of landmines and unexploded ordnance. Halo Trust worker Olena Kabanova, 58, now operates a DMR-7 vehicle that uses compressed-air jets to excavate soil from suspect areas, reducing a typical 45-minute shovel job to roughly five minutes while keeping the operator safe.

The rise of drone-launched munitions and the deployment of Russian POM-3 pressure mines, which can be triggered by footfall, have widened contamination zones and forced some villages to be avoided entirely. UN Mine Action Service adviser Paul Heslop cautions that these new hazards could extend beyond former front lines. While international donors fund high-tech equipment, Ukraine’s state emergency services can fly surveillance drones but cannot yet apply AI to interpret the data. Despite administrative hurdles and slow legislative reforms, experts believe the technology could soon restore agricultural fields to civilian use more quickly than traditional methods.