Protect Families in Ukraine

Clearing landmines is painstaking, careful work.

Each day, HALO deminers wear heavy protective gear. They step into minefields with metal detectors, and carefully excavate objects from the soil. And sometimes, what they find isn’t a landmine after all, but a non-explosive piece of metal.

In Ukraine, the world's most mined country, speed and precision are key to this careful process. Quickly and accurately removing mines helps communities recover faster. It also lets farmers get back to work. Many of the country’s fertile fields, once called “the breadbasket of Europe,” are now minefields.

But even for experienced deminers Ukraine presents unique challenges. In one minefield, you can find multiple types of weapons: tripwire-bombs, cluster munitions, and landmines. These can be set off by a 50-ton tank or by a farm tracker, and sometimes by the single step of an unsuspecting passerby.

The high mineral content of Ukrainian soil and the many non-explosive metal objects buried in the ground add to this difficulty. Both factors can set off false alarms with the detectors or confuse their signals.

Despite these challenges, demining Ukraine is critical. So HALO is turning to innovative technology to help our teams detect and remove explosives faster, safer, and more accurately.

While many deminers still work by hand, HALO now employs several types of technology in Ukraine’s minefields. From heavy machinery that clears entire fields of soil, to nimble drones that locate hard-to-see explosives, innovation is helping bring life back to Ukraine’s fields.

Mechanical Clearance: Meet Tetiana Hluschenko 

Tetiana, a mechanical operator, doesn’t look like she’s operating a bulldozer. She’s not sitting in the cabin of a large, loud machine, turning a steering wheel. Instead, she’s standing behind a protective metal shield, with a large headset and remote control strapped to her waist.

From here, she operates a skid steer – a powerful, versatile machine that can take on multiple attachments. One of these is a bucket that sifts soil to separate large pieces of metal from dirt.

This technology helps deminers work better and faster. It can boost their daily output from 1.9 square meters to 200 square meters of land. Because Ukrainian minefields contain many different types of explosive devices—each with its own design and trigger—adaptable tools like these ensure HALO’s teams are prepared for whatever threats they encounter.

Drones: Meet Anastasiia Korohod

Team Commander Anastasiia holds what looks like a video game controller. She watches a small drone buzzing a few feet above the ground.

She is using it to gather data: the drone snaps pictures of potential lethal explosives while she marks their GPS coordinates. This valuable data then guides clearance teams.

To locate explosive threats, deminers often rely on reports from local residents. They also use binocular observations from a distance and a compass to estimate locations. Drones are speeding up the process. They fly over an item, take pictures, and find its exact coordinates with GPS. Meanwhile, deminers stay safely away.

Technology Makes Land Safer, Faster.

Technology is transforming how HALO clears explosives in Ukraine, making it faster, safer, and far more efficient. Without these new tools and methods, making Ukraine fully free of explosive threats could take a century. With them, the country can reach this milestone in a fraction of the time. 

The ongoing work to clear Ukraine's minefields would not be possible without HALO's committed community of supporters. Thank you for your generous support.