Technology
There are so many Russian landmines across Ukraine that removing them could take 700 years. To prioritise areas for de-mining, the Ukrainian government has turned to an artificial intelligence model that can identify the most important regions
Ukrainian engineers are working to remove Russian mines
Kirill Chubotin/Ukrinform/NurPhoto/Getty Images
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has seen so many landmines deployed across the country that clearing them would take 700 years, say researchers. To make the task more manageable, Ukrainian scientists are turning to artificial intelligence to identify which regions are a priority for de-mining, though they expect some may simply have to be left as a permanent “scar” on the country.
Russia’s minelaying and Ukrainian efforts to remove the explosives began with the initial invasion of Crimea in 2014, which saw a few hundred square kilometres of land contaminated. Now, two years after Russia’s…