Safe Terrain

Let's finish a de-mining project in Ukraine

Just a short one today.

I'd like you to help me keep a promise.

This past August, on my birthday, Mark Hamill and I began a project, Safe Terrain, to help clear Ukrainian lands of mines. With robots.

Much of the territory under the control of the Ukrainian government was mined by Russia. Millions of Russian mines and other ordnance will kill and maim for decades, if nothing is done. The mines prevent Ukrainians from returning to their homes and farms and businesses.

De-mining is dangerous work. It us usually done by human beings, at great risk to themselves. But simple robotic platforms can do this job instead. And so Mark and I agreed to raise finds for thirty such platforms.

Three months ago, I visited Ukraine, and watched a competitive test of the three systems, all of which performed very well. Anti-tank mines, I can report, are very loud. And they, like other ordnance, can be safely detonated by machines.

With the Ukrainian minister of digital transformation, Mykhaïlo Fedorov, and the three competitors, September 2024.

The thirty robotic platforms will cost $441,000 (which is inexpensive! think of what the Pentagon pays for things). Thanks to Mark, and thanks to hundreds of people like you, we have almost reached the goal.

We are almost there. We are at about 98% of the total.

The figure that we need to raise is down to about $10,000.

I'd like to ask you to help me and Mark to keep our promise, to close this fundraiser -- to get those mines cleared, and people back to their farms, businesses, and homes.

I think we can do it. I think we can do it this week. I’ll let you know when we do.

This is a tough time, it need not be said, for Ukrainians. They are facing a ceaseless Russian offensive as well as uncertainty about who their friends will be. If you can, this is a chance to make a gesture of friendship.

Please share this message with friends of Ukraine who might want to help.

PS: If you want me to know about your contribution to Safe Terrain, feel free to mention it below, or to write me on timothysnyder13100@gmail.com.

PPS: There are plenty of other good ways to help Ukraine. If you'd like to help Ukrainian soldiers directly, an excellent NGO is Come Back Alive. My own project, Documenting Ukraine, supports scholars, journalists, scientists and others who are making a record of the suffering of war. The Reckoning Project is doing special work, bringing together the methods of journalists and prosecutors.