• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Capability for Demining marks its second anniversary: from the very first initiatives to tangible assistance on the frontline

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of National Defence

2025-11-24
International cooperation | Security and defense policy

In Kamianets-Podilskyi, the central fortress of Ukraine's engineer training, the Capability Coalition for Demining co-led by Lithuania and Iceland held the 17th meeting of 13 member states and 4 partner organisations represented by 38 envoys. Over the two years since the first steps in November 2023, the Demining Coalition has grown to become an important multinational platform that delivers humanitarian and combat demining assistance to Ukraine.

"A couple of days ago I returned from Ukraine where I had the pleasure of meeting the President's and prime Minister's teams. The Demining Coalition project is clearly very successful and plays a crucial role in neutralizing the ravage of war as much as possible shoulder to shoulder with other formats of assistance to Ukraine in the country that is still war-torn. This is an initiative we can take pride in," said Minister of National Defence Robertas Kaunas.

Ukraine is currently still the number one country in the world by mine contamination: one third of its territory is still planted with mines and unexploded ordnance. The lethal hazards endanger the civilians, prevent reconstruction of vital infrastructure and agriculture developers from restarting the work in some of the richest soil in Europe. Ukraine is needs badly to clear the vicinity of the frontline from mines to be able to continue the counteroffensive, as well as agricultural land, forests, rivers and industrial infrastructure.

The Capability Coalition for Demining includes 23 members, 5 observers and 12 partners. It is co-led by the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iceland. The Central Project Management Agency is the body responsible for acquisition of equipment, administration of finances and deliveries to Ukraine.

Members of the Coalition put in place the long-term Roadmap 2024-2034 for developing modern humanitarian and combat demining as well as engineer units that are independent and align with NATO standards.

The initial capabilities covering 8 trained battalions supplied with modern equipment are planned to be ready by the end of 2025 so that over 450 teams can successfully demine in complex battle circumstances. Besides, nearly 4 thousand specialists have already been trained thanks to the assistance of the European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine, U.S. Tetra Tech, Canada's Mriya Aid and Spanish aid.

Eight Coalition Members and Partners - Germany, Lithuania, Denmark, Slovakia, Finland, Iceland, Tetra Tech (U.S.), United Nations Office for Project Service (funded by the Netherlands) and Mriya Aid (of Canada) - have supplied equipment worth of over EUR 408 million. Also, Lithuania, Sweden, Germany, Iceland, Ireland and Denmark funded acquisition of different types of equipment worth of over EUR 111 million.

Lithuania has made the bulkiest contribution so far with deliveries of EUR 87 million worth of equipment and EUR 47 million financial contribution to the Coalition Fund for further procurement.

The Capability Coalition for Demining is effective and thanks to the sponsors is delivering thousands of items of equipment , vehicles and demining systems, tools to save thousands of lives and enable reconstruction of the country.