NATO provides Ukraine with demining equipment
The State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) received equipment from NATO for pyrotechnical experts who carry out the de-mining of the Donbas region. The ceremony of transfer of equipment was held on Thursday in Kiev, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges Sorin Ducary, who attended the ceremony, noted that the equipment was transferred within the boundaries of the NATO program. Assistance to humanitarian mine clearance in Ukraine was initiated in July 2015.
“Ukraine is under high threat conditions and it requires the corresponding response of special services. This project should help to strengthen this response. Its purpose is assistance in improving SESU’s functions and also assistance in humanitarian mine clearance. We transfer equipment and hold special training for Ukrainian experts within this project,” Ducary noted.
The Alliance transferred to Ukraine four Meg-Eng explosion-proof suits, hybrid metal detectors, depth multipliers for increasing the depth of searching, multipliers for searching in difficult locations, tactical glasses and means of life support in the field. The whole assistance package is designed for four pyrotechnic units or 22 people.
Ducary also stressed that Ukrainian experts are engaged in different research projects undertaken under the auspices of NATO with the cooperation of Ukraine.
The Head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, Nicolay Chechetkin, reported that experts have defused 57 thousand explosive items, including 760 explosive devices planted by illegal armed groups and camouflaged as toys, since the war began in 2014.