Kyiv, 31 August 2026 – “We don’t choose the times we live in – we can only decide how to live in those times.”

This phrase is a guiding principle for Viktoriia Bondarenko, a 42-year-old displaced woman from Sloviansk, who was forced to relocate to Kharkiv after losing both her home and her job because of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“While my husband is serving, I chose not to sit back, but to do something to help make our land and our cities safe again – for us and for our children,” she says.

Viktoriia is among the graduates of Veterans 4, a project that retrains veterans and their family members to become humanitarian demining specialists. Implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine with support from the Government of Italy, the initiative helps address two critical challenges facing the country: restoring livelihoods for veterans and expanding Ukraine’s demining capacity.

Twenty-five participants from Kharkiv Oblast have now successfully completed the programme and have been awarded state-recognized certificates qualifying them to work in the humanitarian demining sector.

Stefano Moser, Head of the Development Cooperation Department at the Embassy of Italy in Ukraine, says Italy committed significant funding because they know how crucial mine action is for the reconstruction of Ukraine. 

“Our other priority is people – the people of Ukraine, those who fought on the front line, who were in the mud and in the trenches,” Moser says. “So, bringing these two priorities together – providing training on humanitarian demining, giving veterans new professional skills and opportunities, and putting those skills to use in something that will be so important for the future of Ukraine – is really something special.”

The eight-week training programme combined classroom instruction with intensive practical exercises at a training site near Kyiv. Course participants learned how to identify mines and other explosive ordnance, apply manual demining techniques, and operate specialized explosives detection equipment.

Following graduation, the course participants are expected to take up positions with a mine action operator working in Kharkiv Oblast, one of Ukraine’s most heavily contaminated regions.

The initiative was implemented with the support of the Ministry of Economy and Environment of Ukraine and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine.

Nelli Yarovenko, an adviser to the Minister for Veterans Affairs, says there are many different projects aimed at helping veterans reintegrate into civilian life. 

“But veterans need more than words of gratitude,” she adds. “They need practical support, including psychosocial support, rehabilitation and training, and, most importantly, employment, so that they can go on to build an independent civilian life.”

According to Dmytro Panshyn, the head of the Humanitarian Demining Department at the Ministry of Economy and Environment, the programme responds to a growing demand for qualified demining professionals.

“I’m a veteran myself, and when I started working in mine action, it was important to me to contribute to something that was practically useful,” he says. “That’s why I value the fact that the participants in this programme want to help make our country and our land safer.”

“The knowledge they have gained during more than two months of training, combined with their experience as veterans, makes them highly sought-after professionals in the humanitarian demining sector. I hope that, already this year, they’ll be able to put their skills to use in the field.”

The programme is already expanding. A second group of veterans from Mykolaiv Oblast has begun similar training under the next phase of the initiative.

Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions remain among the areas most affected by contamination from landmines and other explosive ordnance, creating significant obstacles to recovery, economic activity, and the safe return of displaced people.

Auke Lootsma, Resident Representative of UNDP in Ukraine, pointing to the importance of the training programme, notes that Ukraine remains one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world. 

“Land being contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of the war prevents families from returning home, farmers from cultivating their land, but also businesses from reopening and communities from rebuilding,” Lootsma says. “Therefore, humanitarian demining is much more than just a technical activity. Every area that is cleared is land returned to people. Every mine removed is an opportunity restored. And every community being made safe is a step taken closer to recovery.”

Media enquiries:

Yuliia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Head of Communications and Advocacy; e-mail: yuliia.samus@undp.org