Due to Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukraine is one of the most mined countries in the world and urgently needs to clear unexploded ordnance from its territory.

Explosives are currently being defused by both Ukrainians and international teams.

Estonian experts want to help but, due to the small size of their team, they have not been permitted by the Ukrainian authorities.

UNDP Ukraine Mine Action Instructor Ranno Raidloo is on loan from Estonia's Rescue Board to the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, which has sent him to Ukraine to train and equip Ukrainians.

"The problem is the bureaucracy behind it. Ukraine has legislation that deals with demining and that includes accreditation, having a separate program inside Ukraine. Estonia, as a small country, does not have such a capability, unfortunately," he said.

Toomas Tamošjunas, with a background in the Estonian Defense Forces, has worked in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa. He currently works as an operations manager for Norwegian People's Aid.

He also confirmed the problems. "If the whole Estonian rescue service came to Ukraine, no one would notice," Tamošjunas said, describing the size of the team.

The Rescue Board started negotiations to send a demining team to Ukraine two years ago and the outcome is still on hold. However, during this time, Estonia has bought and sent demining machines to Ukraine instead.

Outlining the situation in Ukraine, Raidloo said: "The rule of thumb is that if we are talking about artillery ammunition, 30 percent of that ammunition is left behind. Ukraine is unprecedented in scale. And the munitions contamination that is there is also unprecedented. Not since the Second World War has it been on such a scale."

Tamošjunas said: "It is wall to wall – Cold War-era, Soviet-era ammunition and mines, but also some very modern ones that have never been used in real life. All sorts of remotely placed mines, for example, with seismic sensors and magnetic sensors."

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