Underwater drones and robots: How the State Emergency Service uses modern technologies to de-mine Ukraine

Pyrotechnicians of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) are actively using modern technologies for mine clearance.

Serhii Reva, Head of the Department for Organizational Work on Humanitarian Demining at the Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, shared this information during a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine.

“We have already de-mined more than three thousand hectares of land with machines. That is a significant number. We continue to intensify our efforts and deploy more and more machines. This includes areas in Kherson, Mykolaiv, Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts, as well as ongoing work in the Kyiv oblast. The use of these advanced methods will continue and be further refined,” Reva noted.

He emphasized that special attention is currently being paid to underwater demining. In particular, the SES is inspecting waterways along the Dnipro River and water bodies in populated areas.

“Another area we are currently working on is underwater demining. In particular, SESU is inspecting waterways along the Dnipro River and bodies of water in populated areas. We all know that the beach season will start when the local authorities have the opportunity to open the beaches, so we are working on that as well. We use underwater drones and sonobots. Thanks to this equipment, we can speed up the inspection of these bodies of water and locate contaminated areas where it is necessary to deploy sapper divers to neutralize explosive hazards,” the SESU representative explained.

Reva also emphasized that the service is already preparing sapper divers for large-scale operations in view of the future need to demine water bodies after the war.

“Last year a decision was made to increase our underwater demining capabilities, because we understand that after the victory we will have to clear the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Sapper divers will be in great demand for this task,” he added.

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