On June 16, 2022, the Yellow-Blue Charitable Foundation, with the participation of Software Ukraine member companies, launched a program for accelerated humanitarian demining of Ukrainian territory using innovative technologies.
Today, Ukraine is the most heavily mined country in the world. The contamination of territory with explosive remnants of war threatens the lives and health of over 10 million people. This situation has led to an agricultural sector crisis, as harvesting and land cultivation are associated with risks of detonating explosives and damaging agricultural machinery. The prospect of demining using current domestic resources spans decades, especially considering the lack of necessary budgets for these activities.
Yellow-Blue and Software Ukraine, in cooperation with leading global technology partners, are implementing comprehensive solutions for accelerated demining.
The program includes the following areas:
- Remote reconnaissance of terrain and marking of detected explosive objects using drones and artificial intelligence;
- Neutralization of explosive objects, including mines and shells;
- Disposal of expired ammunition, including remote demining (remote involvement of experts via video link);
- Maintaining a geo-registry of hazardous areas and a personnel database of sappers;
- Training military personnel, engineers, and other participants in demining methodologies and techniques that account for local specifics;
- Informing civilians, especially children, about safety rules in areas where hostilities have occurred or where there is an increased risk.
To achieve these goals, the foundation is gathering the best technological solutions and practices, as well as engaging technology partners to create an infrastructure for full humanitarian demining of Ukrainian territory. Cooperation agreements have already been signed with companies such as Def-C (unmanned aerial vehicles) and Transimpex (professional demining services). To increase the speed of search and demining processes for explosive objects several times over, the possibility of using specialized equipment from the company DraganFly (Canada), as well as other well-known global manufacturers, is being considered.
About the foundation
The Yellow-Blue Charitable Foundation was established in March 2022 as a response to full-scale Russian aggression. The initiators were entrepreneurs and IT specialists who have been working in the high-tech sector for over 20 years and are part of companies belonging to Software Ukraine. Before Russia's full-scale invasion, most of them specialized in the development and production of unmanned aerial vehicles, specialized software, and provided services for surveying territories and infrastructure objects using drones. Drone operators and engineers were involved as volunteers for the needs of the National Police and other security and humanitarian structures. This included, for example, searching for missing persons and monitoring objects, assisting in solving property crimes, and surveying accident sites. In particular, more than 30 of our drone operators collaborated with local authorities and State Emergency Service units.
Since February 24, 2022, the foundation's initiators have significantly increased pro bono assistance to government agencies to eliminate the consequences of hostilities in liberated territories.