Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture reported the information.The event took place at Unit. City, Kyiv’s flagship tech innovation hub. It was the second phase of a broader project that began in May with the AI Labeling Sprint hackathon. For the follow-up event — dubbed the AI Data Jam — participants were given more than 8,000 training and 23,000 testing drone images of war-scarred terrain. Over just two days, teams worked online and in person to develop AI algorithms capable of recognizing landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW).The winning team, MineWatch AI, created the best-performing model and received a $2,000 grant from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine and the Government of Luxembourg. They will now have the chance to refine their model with input from real-world demining professionals.The event was supported by leading organizations in the field, including UADamage, The HALO Trust, and Dropla Tech, whose experts served as mentors.“Motivation is sky-high,” said Ihor Bezkaraivanyi, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture. “Together, we aim to build a truly unique product that can clear Ukrainian land of deadly debris, meter by meter, without risking human lives, and with maximum use of tech.”The machine learning models developed during the hackathons are expected to become the foundation for future demining AI tools. Once they pass real-world testing, these technologies could be integrated into humanitarian mine action workflows across Ukraine and potentially beyond.Benjamin Lark, head of UNDP Ukraine’s Mine Action Programme, called Ukraine’s level of innovation in the field “remarkable.”“What we are witnessing is the future being built right now,” Lark said. “Our goal is to make cutting-edge solutions accessible to all working in humanitarian demining. What makes this initiative stand out is that it brings together every key player — government, veterans, tech teams, civil society, and international partners.”Ukraine, Poland, Finland, and the Baltic countries plan to create a security mine belt against Russia. The production of anti-personnel mines will be resumed locally, funded by the countries themselves.