Ukraine calls for international support in demining effort

Ukraine is doing everything it can to clear its territory of landmines and other explosive remnants of war but needs the support of its partners, Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Thursday.

Svyrydenko was speaking at an international conference on mine clearance in Lausanne, Switzerland, also attended by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

Large areas of Ukraine are contaminated by hundreds of thousands of mines, cluster munitions and unexploded ordnance left behind by Russian and Ukrainian forces in combat zones.

The conference brings together representatives from around 50 countries, as well as mine clearance organizations, scientists and companies that manufacture demining equipment.

Peter Reuss from Germany's Foreign Office said that Berlin contributes some €20 million ($21.7 million) per year to the demining effort.

He said he hoped the conference would produce "new insights into how mines and explosive remnants of war can possibly be cleared faster, more effectively and more cheaply."

Artificial intelligence was a "big topic" at the conference, Reuss told dpa. AI could be used, for example, to detect where mines are located, he said.