Expensive and no one knows when it will end: the volume of work on demining the Black Sea was assessed in Kyiv
Ukraine mined its waters to prevent a Russian landing. So, currently the beaches in Odessa are closed, and the Odessa seaport is also closed. Russia, according to Ukrainian authorities, has also planted mines in Ukrainian waters. 
As the Western publication The Economist notes, citing its sources in diplomatic circles, Ukraine “does not have the capabilities to clear the necessary sea routes.”
“We have not yet had an integrated approach to coastal demining as such. If a state has done a lot of work in the field of humanitarian demining: a system has been created, there have already been and are operators (including us) working in the East of Ukraine and other regions, then underwater demining, as it is also called “underwater clearance” or “” “underwater demining,” according to the procedures of international standards for mine action, this has not yet begun in our country,” says Timur Pistryuga, director of the Association of Sappers of Ukraine, in an interview with the Kyiv edition of UNN.
He noted that the Association he heads had repeatedly raised this issue during various meetings with international partners, at various venues, because this was still relevant in the East of Ukraine, where there were many reservoirs contaminated with explosive objects.
“It’s difficult to say anything about the terms and in general how it will happen later, when the system has not yet started working,” laments Timur Pistryuga.
The director of the Association of Sappers of Ukraine notes that until now in Ukraine such events were carried out as follows: in response to operational calls from the State Emergency Service, sapper divers arrived and removed one or another explosive object from a reservoir.
At the same time, according to the expert, such operational demining does not provide security guarantees and does not transfer that reservoir to the end user, and does not comply with the procedures for humanitarian demining.
“The only thing I can say is that underwater mine clearance is even more expensive than ground mine clearance, let’s say, because different equipment is used, which costs more. The services of specialists are even more expensive and, unfortunately, there are not so many such specialists. You also need special equipment, equipment, equipment. This is all, of course, a lot of money,” noted Timur Pistryuga.
According to the Association of Sappers of Ukraine, today more than 82 thousand square kilometers of the country’s territory are potentially mined.
“If we are talking about complete demining of the water area, then this system has not even begun yet. And we cannot say anything specifically. We can't even talk about the cost. If, based on the experience of humanitarian demining in the east of the country, we can approximately determine how much a square meter of land will cost, then we cannot yet determine the cost of underwater demining. We will be able to determine only when the operators start working. And they haven't started yet. They don’t exist at all yet,” explained the director of the Association of Sappers.
In his opinion, Ukraine cannot do without foreign support in this matter, including due to the need for special equipment.
When asked about the scale of the mining, Pistryuga added that he could not give an appropriate assessment, because hostilities were continuing, enemy ships were still at sea, and official data on mining had not been made public.
According to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, not only the sea coast, but also almost half of the territory of Ukraine needs humanitarian demining.
English version :: Read in English: Expensive and unknown when it will end: Kyiv estimates the scope of Black Sea mine clearance work