Canada to provide C$15 million for Ukraine demining

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – Canada said on Monday it will contribute C$15 million ($11.04 million) for equipment needed by Ukraine for humanitarian clearing of landmines.

The assistance will help fund detection and clearance of landmines, unexploded explosive ordnance and other explosive remnants of war.

“The Ukrainian authorities now estimate that landmines are found in 30% of the country,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a speech on Monday at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Canada is providing bomb suits to help protect Ukrainian deminers, along with funding for advanced remote-control demining systems to clear large areas such as farmland.

In August, the U.S. State Department approved $89 million worth of assistance to help Ukraine equip and train 100 teams to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance for a year. A U.S. official had compared Ukraine’s challenge to attempts to disarm unexploded ordnance in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos following the American war of the 1960s and 70s in Southeast Asia.

Canada, the United States and other Western allies have provided other forms of financial, intelligence and military assistance to Ukraine to deal with Russia’s invasion while imposing multiple sanctions on Moscow.

Ukraine on Monday warned there would be emergency blackouts once again in several regions as it repaired damage from missile attacks it said destroyed homes and knocked out power, while Moscow accused Kyiv of attacking deep inside Russia with drones.

($1 = 1.3587 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Jacqueline Wong)