Key developments since May 2002: Ukraine
completed the destruction of nearly 405,000 PMN-type mines between July 2002 and
May 2003. In 2002, Ukrainian deminers cleared 17,000 mines and UXO, most of
them left from World War II.
Mine Ban Policy
Ukraine signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 24 February
1999, but has not yet ratified it. The key stumbling block continues to be
working out a destruction program for its significant stockpile of PFM
antipersonnel mines within the four years required by the treaty.
In August 2002, the Committee on Defense and National Security of the
Ukrainian Parliament and the State Commission on the Defense Industrial Complex
(SCDIC) were given additional responsibilities for implementation of the Mine
Ban Treaty. SCDIC is responsible for developing and coordinating national
policy on military-technical cooperation with foreign countries and
organizations, and for coordination and control of national activities on the
destruction of arms, including landmines. SCDIC proposed establishing a Mine
Action Coordination Center in Ukraine modeled on the Croatian Mine Action
Center.[1] Ministries were
requested by the government to state their position on the creation of such a
center on 16 August 2002.[2]
There was disagreement among ministries whether a new center was necessary.
In January 2003, in accordance with a decision by the President of Ukraine,
SCDIC was disbanded and a Euro-Atlantic Integration Center was created. This
new body will have coordination responsibility for mine action, including
stockpile destruction.[3] The
government did not dismiss the existing interagency working group on mine
action; it continues to coordinate with the European Commission (EC), NATO, the
UN Development Programme (UNDP) and
donors.[4]
Ukraine attended the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2002 and
participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in February and
May 2003. Government representatives also attended regional landmine
conferences in Yerevan in October 2002, in Dubrovnik in October 2002, in Moscow
in November 2002, and in Kiev in February 2003. On 22 November 2002, Ukraine
voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 57/74, supporting
universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.
Ukraine is a State Party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on
Conventional Weapons (CCW). Ukraine attended the Fourth Annual Conference of
States Parties to Amended Protocol II in December 2002 and submitted a national
annual report as required by Article 13 of Amended Protocol II.
Production, Transfer, Use
During the Soviet-era, Ukraine produced components
for antipersonnel mines. The government has repeatedly stated that Ukraine has
not been involved in production since its
independence.[5] Ukraine has a
moratorium on export of antipersonnel mines in place through
2003.[6] In June 2003, a
Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that because the government intends to
ratify the Mine Ban Treaty in the near future, it is not necessary to extend the
moratorium.[7]
The Ministry of Defense states that antipersonnel mines have not been used on
Ukrainian territory since World War II. Ukrainian police continue to record
individual cases of criminal use of landmines. In 2002, the Ministry of
Emergency Situations reported 59 incidents of criminal use of mines and
explosive devices.[8]
Stockpile Destruction
Ukraine inherited a stockpile of 6.35 million
antipersonnel mines, including 404,903 PMN-type mines and 5,947,596 PFM-type
mines, from the Soviet Union. In March 2001, Canada and Ukraine signed a
Framework Arrangement for assistance in antipersonnel mine destruction and
established a coordination committee on stockpile destruction in
Ukraine.[9]
Destruction of PMN Mines
Preparations for the destruction of 404,903 PMN-1 and PMN-2 mines took place
from February to June 2002, with refurbishment of buildings and installation of
equipment at the Donetsk State Chemical Plant in southeast Ukraine.
Preparations were financed by the NATO Partnership for Peace Trust Fund. Mines
were collected at the plant between May and July 2002 from nineteen separate
storage sites.[10]
On 10 July 2002, NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson visited the
factory in Donetsk and formally opened the destruction process lines. He
received a toy constructed from the recycled plastic components of PMN mines
from the Chairman of Donetsk Regional State Administration, Viktor Yanukhovich.
(Yanukhovich was appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine in November 2002). Factory
management has donated other toys to orphanages and kindergartens in the
area.[11]
Lena Kazakova, a 14-year veteran of the plant, told a reporter that she used
to ask herself what she could tell her children about her job at the plant,
which formerly packed explosives into artillery shells and missiles for the
Soviet military. She said, “I used to just make something up. But now I
can tell my girls something positive – ‘We’re saving people's
lives’ -- and that makes me
happy.”[12]
The destruction lines became fully operational in September 2002. The
process for dismantling and destruction of the mines took about ten minutes per
mine. The capacity of the destruction lines was approximately 1,100- 2,000
mines per day.[13]
On 27 May 2003, the last of the PMN mines were destroyed in a ceremony in
Donetsk. The destruction project was completed more than three months ahead of
time. The project was implemented by Ukraine, with NATO’s Maintenance and
Supply Agency (NAMSA) as the Executing Agency. Canada served as the lead donor
nation. Hungary, Poland, and the Netherlands also provided funding. The NATO
Trust Fund collected $800,000 for this
project.[14]
Destruction of PFM-1 Mines
The requirement to destroy over 5 million PFM-type antipersonnel mines is the
key obstacle preventing Ukraine from ratifying the Mine Ban Treaty.
The PFM mine deteriorates in storage and there is a possibility of toxic
releases when the mine is destroyed. This problem has necessitated careful
study and planning for the elimination of Ukraine’s stockpile. A number
of meetings were held on this subject in 2002 and the issue was discussed in the
February and May 2003 meetings of the intersessional Standing Committee on
Stockpile Destruction. However, few concrete steps have been taken.
Stakeholders continue to coordinate their efforts to destroy PFM mines not only
in Ukraine, but also in Belarus and
Russia.[15] Russia is
destroying PFM mines as part of a routine ammunition stockpile management
program. Bulgaria and Turkmenistan destroyed PFM mines during their stockpile
destruction program to comply with the Mine Ban Treaty.
On 24 September 2002, a meeting of Ukraine’s Coordinating Committee on
Stockpile Destruction was held in Kiev, with high-level participation from UNDP,
the EC and Canada. The Committee heard a report from technical experts from the
Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and the EC who
concluded, among other things, that “the destruction of the stockpile
probably could be accomplished far less expensively than previously
estimated.”[16]
The issue was again discussed at an 11-12 February 2003 conference in Kiev
hosted by UNDP and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which
addressed Ukraine’s participation in the Mine Ban Treaty. At the meeting,
a Canadian expert estimated that destruction of the PFM mines would cost US$4
million.[17]
In April 2003, the Interagency Working Group for Antipersonnel Mines
Destruction began appraising the technical condition of the stockpiles of PFM
mines with the aim of determining safe destruction procedures. According to a
media article, the EC has allocated €400,000 to support the study, which
will be carried out at a facility under the National Science Academy's Ye. O.
Paton Arc Welding Institute.[18]
Mine Action in Ukraine
Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) from World
War II still affect Ukraine. From independence in 1992 to the end of 2002,
Ukrainian demining teams collected more than 386,443 mines and UXO, and cleared
approximately 270,000 hectares of
land.[19]
In 2002, 1,375 emergencies, including 1,270 operations involving demining or
explosive ordnance disposal, were reported. This is an increase of 4.3 percent
over 2001. A total of 17,000 mines and UXO were cleared, of which 15,226 mines
and UXO were collected by demining teams of the Ministry of Emergency Situations
(MES). One hundred and two demining teams from the Ministry of Defense
responded to 767 of the emergency incidents and checked 6,866 hectares of
territory in 2002.[20]
Demining groups from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Ministry of
Defense continued in 2002 to implement the state mine clearance program in
Crimea. Government financing of approximately $400,000 was allocated for
coastal mine clearance on the Kerch
peninsula.[21]
For clearance purposes, Ukraine is divided into 497 areas of responsibility;
of these, the Ministry of Defense is responsible for demining in 442 areas and
the Ministry of Emergency Situations is responsible for demining in 55 areas.
In some cases, such as for improvised explosive devices, special police teams
are employed.
There are no systematic mine risk education programs in Ukraine. During mine
clearance operations, deminers meet with the local population and educate them
on the rules of behavior when they come across
UXO.[22]
International Mine Action Programs
Ukrainian deminers continue to participate in UN
peacekeeping operations abroad. In 2002, a Ukrainian-Polish Joint Peacekeeping
Battalion conducted demining operations in Kosovo.[23] In October 2002, Ukraine sent a
new peacekeeping unit with a demining platoon to Kosovo for service with the
Belgian–Luxembourg Joint
Brigade.[24]
The Ukrainian Army’s Third Engineer Battalion has conducted demining
operations, as well as house and road construction, and medical assistance, in
South Lebanon since January 2001, as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL). In April 2003, Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma visited the
battalion in Lebanon.
Landmine/UXO Casualties and Survivor Assistance
In 2002, there were 20 new mine and UXO casualties
in Ukraine, of which seven people were killed and thirteen
injured.[25] In 2001, fourteen
people were killed and four injured in landmine and UXO
incidents.[26]
In accordance with the national law for veterans and persons with
disabilities, Ukraine provided financial support for medical rehabilitation in
sanatoriums for 35,540 war-disabled, including 3,056 landmine survivors, in
2002.[27]
In 2002, President Kuchma signed a series of new State decrees to improve
social protection and medical support for veterans, persons with disabilities,
and victims of war, including mine
survivors.[28] On 12 February
2003, Ukraine commemorated the fourteenth anniversary of the withdrawal of
Soviet forces from Afghanistan. The Ukrainian and Russian leaders of the
“Combat Brotherhood without borders” Union met with President Kuchma
and discussed problems of social and medical rehabilitation of veterans and
civilians who have fallen victim to landmines in modern
conflicts.[29]
[1] SCDIC letter to Government of Ukraine
(No. 21-8/573), 12 August 2002. [2]
Doruchennya Premier Ministra Ukraini, Solution No. 3832/23, 16 August
2002. [3] Press service of President of
Ukraine, “President of Ukraine signed order for creation of new center for
Euro-Atlantic integration,” 12 January 2003, at
http://www.president.gov.ua. [4]
Statement by the Head of the Interagency Working Group on Mine Action to the
national conference, “Ottawa Convention: Ukraine’s
Participation,” Kiev, 11 February
2003. [5] Report of the Interagency
Working Group on Mine Action to “Ottawa Convention: Ukraine’s
Participation” conference, Kiev, 11 February
2003. [6]
Ibid. [7] Statement by Vladimir Dzyub,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the meeting of mine action experts, organized by
ICBL-Ukraine, UNDP, Atlantic Council of Ukraine, Kiev, 3 June
2003. [8] Ministry of Emergency
Situations, “Annual Report 2002,” at
http://www.mns.gov.ua. [9]
For previous discussion on stockpiles, their locations, and developments in the
joint destruction project, which has moved more slowly than anticipated, see
Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 841-842, and Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp.
786-787. [10] NATO Update,
“Landmine Project closing ceremony in Ukraine,” 27 May
2003. [11] “Ukraine factory turns
landmines into toys: 'We're saving people's lives',” Associated Press
(Ukraine), 14 December 2002. Toys made from the mine components include
scoop-billed birds the size of a shoebox and mini shovel-and-pail
sets. [12]
Ibid. [13] Statement by Volodmyr Dziub,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction,
Geneva, 6 February 2003; NATO Update, “Landmine Project closing ceremony
in Ukraine,” 27 May 2003; “NATO support for destruction of PMN mines
in Ukraine,” Defense Express (news agency), 25 December
2002. [14] NATO Update, “Landmine
Project closing ceremony in Ukraine,” 27 May 2003; Presentation by Canada,
“Stockpile Destruction: A Pillar of Mine Action,” to the Standing
Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 6 February
2003. [15] The State Commission on the
Defense-Industrial Complex was identified in October 2001 as the single
governmental institution to coordinate the initiative on PFM-type landmines
stockpile destruction in Ukraine. The European Commission, UNDP, Geneva
International Center for Humanitarian Demining, and Canada all participate in
the PFM destruction program planning
process. [16] Statement by Sayed Aqa,
Mine Action Team Leader, UNDP, to Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction,
Geneva, 5 February 2003. [17]
“Canadian official urges countries to help Ukraine destroy millions of
land mines,” Associated Press (Kiev), 10 February
2003. [18] “EU will support
Ukrainian landmine destruction program,” Ukrainian National Information
Agency (UNIAN), Kiev, 11 February
2003. [19] Ministry of Defense press
release, “Ukrainian MoD work on demining in 300 administrative
districts,” 28 March 2003, available at www.mil.gov.ua
[20] Ministry of Emergency Situations,
“Annual Report 2002.” [21]
Ibid. [22] ICBL-Ukraine report to the
“Ottawa Convention: Ukraine’s Participation” conference, Kiev,
11 February 2003. [23] Ministry of
Defense press release, “Engineer Forces of Ukraine, activity and
perspectives,” 1 November
2002. [24] Ministry of Defense press
release, “Ukrainian Demining Platoon will go to KFOR mission in
Kosovo,” 30 October 2002. [25]
Ministry of Emergency Service, “Annual Report 2002,” Annex
8. [26] Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
586. [27] Ukrainian Department for
Veteran Affairs, “Annual Report
2002.” [28]
Ibid. [29] Ukrainian Union of Afghan War
Veterans press release, “The Day of withdrawal of Soviet forces from
Afghanistan,” 16 February 2003.
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