Country & Territory Reports - Landmine Action

178 ukraine
USSR, the area was guarded by the Navy. Recently, however,
the area has been accessible to people looking to salvage
metal and explosives.
In March 2004, Defence Minister Marchuk admitted that
“several hundred” Soviet-era surface-to-air missiles
remained unaccounted for in Ukraine. He claimed this must
only be a case of bad book-keeping and categorically
dismissed the possibility of the missiles being stolen, even
though Ukraine has been accused in recent years of
delivering arms to nations such as Iraq on the black
market. Ukraine has returned all of its nuclear warheads to
the Russian Military after the Soviet Union’s collapse under
a deal that the United States helped broker and insisted
upon, fearing instability in independent Ukraine. But the
security and technical maintenance of the massive
quantities of arms is still prompting fears in the West. 2003
Impact
Lack of effective controls over ordnance stores can present
a serious hazard. As a result of a fire at such stores in
Zaporizhzhya Oblast, Melitopol region, multiple explosions
started on 6 May 2004 and finished on May 13, 2004. As a
result of this stockpile incident some 936 houses were
damaged. 2004 Government sources were reported as saying
that the incident was caused by soldiers smoking at
work. 2005 Some reports noted that five people were killed
and four injured, more than 5,000 had to be evacuated
and there was extensive disruption to infrastructure as
fragments were scattered over a 10km radius. 2006 Other
reports suggest 10,000 people had to be evacuated and
that buildings, including a local railway station, were
destroyed. 2007 This incident was taken by the Defence
Minister as indicative of the acute problems faced by
Ukraine with the respect to excessive stocks of ordnance.
The MoD was reported as noting that the 184 such arms
depots in the Ukraine were overfilled by 110-120 per cent,
meaning Ukraine was storing more than one million tons of
needless ammunition. 2008 It has been reported that some
60 per cent of the ammunition was kept in open stacks and
stored as a single body – a technique that is strictly
against national regulations designed to prevent the
occurrence of such an accident. 2009
On 11 May 2004, the Ukrainian Parliament debated the
problems posed by these stockpiles. Mr. Grigoriy Reva,
Minister of Emergency Situations, suggested that “the
military financial losses are more than US$500 million,
civilian financial losses US$300 million”. 2010
After incidents in Artemovsk and Zaporizhzhya Oblast, the
President of Ukraine signed a decree stopping all activity
on the destruction of ammunition and give the Defence
Ministry three months to create a new system of
coordination and organization for these problems. 2011
Information on incidents and casualties is posted on the
website of the Emergency Ministry. 2012 For example:
erw and motapm – global survey 2003–2004
■ On 29 June 2004, four workers were injured and one died
when they tried to disassemble an artillery shell from the
1939-45 War in the building of a private enterprise near
Voronotsa village, Vinnitsky district. All of the victims were
male. Two 15-year-old boys had minor injuries to their
legs. A 20-year-old man lost his arm and a 50-year-old
man was injured in the stomach. It is not known how the
shell got into the building.
■ On 24 March 2004, on a dump near Fedorovka in Lugansk
area, schoolchildren discovered a 120mm mortar shell.
The children informed the school principle and the
ordnance was addressed by a team from the Ministry of
Defence. 2013
■ On 26 January 2004 a sea mine found in Kamyshovy Bay,
Sevastopol, was taken to the house of the businessman
who found it while diving. During an effort to take the
device apart there was an explosion which left two people
dead and a third severely injured. After inspecting the
scene, the demining team concluded that only the
detonator had exploded and that the main explosive
charge was still intact. A large number of people had to be
evacuated to deal with the mine (which was finally
completed on 4 February 4 2004). According to the police
investigation, the victims of the explosion had planned to
sell the parts for scrap metal. 2014
There are numerous reports of “illegal” collection of
ordnance from contaminated areas for sale of extracted
explosives or metal content.
UMACC’s report “Situation in Ukraine 2004” states that in
2003, there were 4 mine and UXO casualties (2 people
were killed and 2 people were injured.) To May 2004 there
were 14 mine and UXO casualties (7 people killed and 7
were injured as results of [...] explosive incidents.)” 2015
Efforts to address these problems
In the course of reports at the plenary meetings of 58th
United Nations Assembly, representative of Ukraine stated:
“Despite the fact that more than half a century has passed
since the end of World War II, every year our specialists
neutralize tens of thousands of pieces of ammunition and
unexploded ordnance.” 2016
In January 2004, a coalition of Ukrainian NGOs created the
Ukrainian Mine Action Coordination Centre as a nongovernmental
organisation. On January 15, the UMACC
Council held its first session in Kiev, and confirmed its role
as being to help implement mine action and other Mine
Ban Treaty and CCW issues in the Ukraine, to support
ratification by Ukraine of the Mine Ban Treaty, and to work
in partnership for full-scale PFM mines 2017 and small arms
and light weapons (SALW) destruction projects. 2018
Key bodies involved in responded to ordnance contamination
in Ukraine include the Humanitarian Demining
Centre (HDC) of the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Ukraine