How Japan is mobilising global expertise to clear Ukraine’s landmines

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How Japan is mobilising global expertise to clear Ukraine’s landmines  Japan is leading a global effort to help Ukraine recover from one of the world’s most dangerous legacies of war, millions of landmines contaminating its soil.  In partnership with The Government of Japan  READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/11/18/how-japan-is-mobilising-global-expertise-to-clear-ukraines-landmines  Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages

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00:00After nearly four years of war, Ukraine is the most heavily mine-contaminated country

00:28in the world, with millions of landmines and unexploded weapons scattered over nearly

00:33a quarter of the land. This invisible danger is wrecking lives. More than 900 civilians

00:40have been killed or injured.

00:52In Tokyo, the Japanese government has just hosted the annual Ukraine Mine Action Conference,

00:58globally, Japan is one of the major supporters of Ukraine, having provided $12 billion in

01:05financial aid, equipment and training since 2022.

01:11This conference is an opportunity to coordinate international support, technical, financial

01:16and humanitarian, to accelerate demining in Ukraine. The emphasis is not only on making

01:23the country safer right now, but as an economic gateway to the future.

01:30The Japanese foreign minister said landmines cast a dark shadow over Ukraine's future,

01:36stressed the importance of mine action through international public-private partnerships.

01:41U.S.

01:43U.S.

01:44U.S.

01:46Mr. Motegi outlined a new package, the Ukraine Mine Action Support Initiative, which aims

02:12to boost human resources and technology, integrating mine action into Ukraine's broader recovery.

02:20He also announced a new partnership with Colombia, another country with a history of

02:24landmine contamination, and a financial contribution to the NATO fund that supports

02:29mine action in Ukraine. Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture says the

02:38ongoing conflict makes clearing landmines even more dangerous.

02:43It's really complicated our work, but we're doing it because if we will wait when war will

02:51stop, we will lose totally our economy because our economy is in a big part, it's agriculture, production.

03:01Japan and Ukraine have developed a new approach, the so-called nexus, which is all about getting

03:07rid of the landmines, but also what comes next.

03:10Nexus idea, it's not doing just clearance, it's a clearance, it's thinking about future

03:16and what will happen in the area in the future after clearance, what will rebuild and in what

03:22time period, how we work with local authorities, how we work with local citizens, with local

03:28business.

03:30Japanese engineering and manufacturing company Niken Corporation has given 12 landmine clearance

03:36machines to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict.

03:39The normalcy machine is in the blue type of protection to see the kind of push up the

03:43blue type of protection.

03:44It's a single-click machine that has to push up the protection of the protection of the

03:46public.

03:47But this technology is in the back of the pressure that operates the arms, which is the

03:48arm to move, which is the protection of the protection of the military.

04:01miles away from the tokyo conference the nikken machine is being put through its paces in a real

04:07life simulation here in cambodia officers from ukraine's emergency services are learning how

04:15to use the equipment on the ground before heading home where they'll train up their colleagues

04:20in turn coordinated by the japan international cooperation agency jika this training camp

04:28pulls together expertise from the cambodia mine action center and nikken to pass on knowledge

04:34and skills to trainees from the ukrainian state emergency service this is one of several training

04:42sessions jayka has held in cambodia a country that knows all too well the deadly toll that landmines

04:49exact mine is not the case that's enough to do so much of the public health care

04:56project

04:58では not to do fummer

04:59people can't抑えた

05:00so there are also inequity territories where people want to come home to live

05:05but there are still危險 there are there can be

05:11dangerous物件 their buildings their houses

05:14their garages their houses

05:15everywhere else to go to the corridor

05:18so there are too many lines of transport

05:22back in tokyo at the ukraine mine action conference kameishi hiroto of jika says the training program

05:37is two-pronged just simply providing equipment doesn't work well because as a when a way

05:44introducing a new technology or new equipment that technology and equipment should be properly used

05:50meaning that capacity development human resources development the key the idea is that the ukrainian

05:55officers in cambodia will now train up their colleagues back in the field we really hope

06:02that those kind of trainers will be the focal or core of the human resource development in ukraine

06:11while efforts in cambodia aim to prevent future casualties from mines the toll in ukraine is

06:17already immense with tens of thousands of people there in need of prosthetic limbs one japanese

06:24company is exploring how its technology could help obara kogyo is a fourth generation tokyo-based

06:34prosthetics company with more than 70 years of experience obara kogyo has received inquiries from

07:03organizations in ukraine and is considering how best to respond to the evident need for prosthetics

07:10but in a country where medical facilities are overstretched we've seen the brute strength of the

07:36demining machine in action in cambodia and other technologies are also in development to try and

07:42minimize the risk to soldiers on the ground industrial drone company prodrone is working with tokyo

07:49consultancy padeco and two local ukrainian partners to develop ai-powered drones that can detect mines from

07:58the sky someone said to demining in crime takes more than 100 years but well we didn't calculate but

08:08if this technology can contribute then it's going to be the much faster and less dangerous it is very very

08:16high technology because lower altitude is very difficult to fly but our drone can do only 20 centimeters

08:26then if one meters detector cannot detect anything the drones use software to map the exact location of

08:36where the mines are detected the flight path is also programmed so the drones fly autonomously

08:45nagoya-based prodrone is currently testing them at its headquarters and invited a delegation of ukrainian

08:51companies to watch

08:56logistics and train taking power to the drone

09:01uh...

09:02wland kossack of the ukrainian foundation post-up was in nagoya

09:07Vlad Kozak of the Ukrainian Foundation Post-Up was in Nagoya.

09:25This year we had a project with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, where we surveyed

09:315 million square meters of suspected hazardous areas and confirmed hazardous areas.

09:38So we used agricultural drones that were mostly popular in Ukraine.

09:42And right now we went to the next level to try and test custom-made solutions for such applications.

09:52The widespread use of landmines has decimated farming.

09:56Before the war, much of this land was used for agriculture.

09:59Ukraine exported enormous quantities of food.

10:03It was known as the breadbasket of Europe.

10:05And its agriculture sector accounted for around 10% of its GDP.

10:12At a side event during the conference, Ukrainian chef Yevhen Klopatenko was serving up Ukraine's

10:17borscht soup made from vegetables from fields recently cleared of landmines to raise awareness.

10:23Three years ago, four years ago, you've been farming all of your life.

10:27And then Russia invaded and mined all the territories.

10:32And then was the time when we pushed the Russian army back.

10:37And now again we have these fields, but they are mined.

10:40And the farmers, they can only farm.

10:42And that's their craft.

10:44Every day they can be killed.

10:45They can be killed by the drone or they can be killed by the mine.

10:48So that's the real price of the food.

10:51It was a moment for local people to find out more about Ukraine and landmines.

10:56And of course, taste the traditional dish.

10:59And I think you can make it so much longer.

11:04I thought it was a good opportunity in the world that.

11:07It was a big experience.

11:10And you can see I think that.

11:13Like, I thought it's interesting.

11:13I thought it was a good idea.

11:18It's interesting.

11:18When you're going to be with the bird and animal,

11:20the streets were there.

11:21And you can see it on your own.

11:22And you can find it on your own.

11:25Because that's a resource for using the trees to store,

11:27with new agreements signed and fresh partnerships launched Japan's role in Ukraine goes beyond

11:44funding it's a full-scale effort saving lives and preparing the ground for recovery and reconstruction

11:57you

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