Kyiv, Ukraine – August 8, 2025 – APOPO has deployed new detection dog teams to Ukraine as part of a joint humanitarian demining project with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG). This expansion is funded by a $9.8 million grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and focuses on Mykolaiv and Kharkiv, the regions with the highest concentration of landmines.
The funding supports new APOPO dog-handler teams and MAG demining teams. The first of these APOPO teams began operations on July 10, with more to follow in 2026.
The Technical Survey Dog (TSD) teams will work alongside a community liaison team also funded by the Foundation. Together, they are expected to survey more than 1,300 acres of land over the course of the project, helping determine which areas can be returned safely to farming and ensuring that any landmines or unexploded ordnance found are destroyed.
Among the new team members are Ukrainian war veterans, many of whom learned about this opportunity through another partner of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation: the Superhumans Centre, a state-of-the-art prosthetics and rehabilitation clinic supporting discharged military personnel and civilians.
How the Partnership Works
APOPO’s role in the project is to carry out technical survey and mine detection using trained dogs working with APOPO handlers. The dogs are trained to detect the scent of explosives and to indicate a detection by sitting, at least one meter away from the suspected object. This safety behavior is built into their training and rigorously reinforced.
To date, no dog has ever been harmed in any of APOPO’s demining operations. The use of dogs offers a safe and highly efficient method to identify potential explosive threats across large areas.
Once the dogs have identified a target and their handlers have marked the location and moved out, MAG’s demining teams are responsible for investigating those spots and safely removing and destroying any confirmed landmines or unexploded ordnance. This collaborative approach allows the land to be surveyed more quickly while ensuring that final clearance is carried out with the highest standards of safety and care.
MAG also provides community liaison support, working with local residents to keep them informed and to promote safe behavior while demining is in progress.
Continued Operations in Ukraine
This deployment builds on APOPO’s program in Ukraine, which began in January 2024. Our initial deployment of 16 dogs and eight handlers was part of a pilot project supported by the European Union and the United Nations Development Programme. After becoming the first organization to receive national accreditation for Technical Survey Dogs from Ukraine’s National Mine Action Authority in October 2024, APOPO’s team has expanded to 49 dogs and 24 handlers.
All the dogs are trained at APOPO’s dedicated facilities and undergo months of preparation before being deployed. They are conditioned to work in a wide range of terrain and are equipped to help identify hazardous areas that might otherwise take much longer to assess through manual methods.
Ukraine’s Landmine Crisis
Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) now affect nearly a third of Ukraine’s land area, making it the most heavily mined country in the world. The impact is severe and far-reaching: civilian casualties continue, and much of the country’s most productive farmland remains inaccessible.
Before the Russian invasion in 2022, Ukraine’s agricultural sector was a critical part of the economy. It contributed around 9 percent of the gross value added and employed more than 14 percent of the workforce. The country also holds a substantial share of the world’s most fertile soils, with over 100 million acres of arable land and between 25 and 30 percent of global black soil reserves.
Landmine contamination in these areas has serious consequences for food production and livelihoods in Ukraine and around the world. According to the World Food Programme, about 400 million people rely on Ukrainian agricultural exports for food security.
Support from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation
The joint APOPO–MAG partnership is funded by a $9.8 million grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The grant supports the deployment of APOPO detection dog teams, MAG manual demining teams, and a community engagement component to promote safe behavior and build public understanding of the demining process.
In addition to this partnership funding, APOPO has received $2.9 million from the Foundation. This additional support will be used to acquire land and expand APOPO’s training and kennel facilities. These improvements will help us train more dogs and handlers, increasing our long-term capacity for land clearance operations in Ukraine and other countries affected by conflict.
MAG’s Role in the Partnership
MAG is responsible for the manual clearance of explosive threats identified by the dogs. Their demining teams work to safely investigate and remove hazards that have been indicated by APOPO’s survey teams. MAG also leads risk education and outreach to help communities stay informed and safe.
Howard G. Buffett, Chairman and CEO of the Foundation, said: “The demining need in Ukraine is so great that it will require innovative approaches to save lives and accelerate the return of Ukrainian agricultural land to production. We look forward to piloting this technique in Ukraine in partnership with MAG and APOPO.”
Nick Guest, APOPO’s Programme Manager in Ukraine, stated, “With the generous support of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, we are proud to scale up our innovative use of Animal Detection Systems in Ukraine. Our highly trained dogs offer a fast, effective, and scalable solution to accelerate land release, protect communities and save lives.”
Jon Cunliffe, MAG’s Country Director in Ukraine, added, “This collaboration not only strengthens our capacity on the ground but also highlights the power of innovation in humanitarian demining. Right now, Ukraine is the most mined country in the world, and it is critical that we develop effective solutions to prevent injury and death and to support the recovery of agricultural land.”
Expanding Capacity and Field Operations
With the first APOPO dog teams now operating under this new grant, and more set to deploy next year, the project is positioned to expand safe access to land in Mykolaiv and Kharkiv. APOPO’s new training infrastructure, funded by the additional investment, will also move forward, giving us a stronger foundation for future operations in Ukraine and beyond.
Together with MAG, and with the generous support of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, APOPO will continue contributing to landmine clearance in Ukraine in a way that is methodical, safe, and focused on results.
APOPO Ukraine extends its heartfelt gratitude to our valued partners and donors whose generous support continues to make our life-saving work possible.
