Handover of Mobile Chemical Identification Laboratory to State Emergency Service of Ukraine

Being a highly industrialized country, Ukraine faces a number of chemical security risks. Around 216,000 tons of hazardous chemicals are annually produced, used or stored in more than 650 industrial facilities across Ukraine. Accidents at such facilities are particularly dangerous, as release of toxic substances can have far-reaching consequences for people and environment. Those threats are especially acute in the eastern part of Ukraine, where hostilities create additional risks. Notably, a research supported by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator identified over 500 conflict-related interruptions of operations at local industrial enterprises in 2014-2019.   

To strengthen Ukraine’s emergency responders’ capacity to deal with those threats, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator is to donate a sophisticated mobile chemical identification laboratory to the Main Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Donetsk Region.  It is fully equipped for the local SESU staff to be able to rapidly assess the situation, conduct chemical and radiological reconnaissance, sample unknown substances and carry out efficient first-response actions on site. It is the first and for now the only mobile laboratory of such functionality in the country.

The handover ceremony is to take place at 11:00 on 30 March 2021 at the premises of the Main Department of the SESU in Donetsk Region (Mariupol, Mytropolytska st., 175) and will gather Ambassador Henrik Villadsen,  the OSCE Project Co-ordinator, Mykola Ilchenko, Deputy Head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, Vadym Filashkin, Deputy Head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration, Boitsov Viacheslav, First Deputy Head of the Main Department of the SESU in Donetsk region, representatives of the Project donors, experts.

Journalists wishing to cover the ceremony are kindly requested to obtain accreditation with Veronica Bakhal, Head of Public And Media Relations of Main Department of the SESU in Donetsk Region, by e-mail press_dsns_dn@ukr.net or +38099 473 79 30.

Additional information: Adnrii Andrii Dziubenko, National Communications Officer, of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, mob. +380 67 239 39 51, andrii.dziubenko@osce.org. 

The effort is part of the “Enhancing Ukraine’s Chemical Emergency Response Capacity” project implemented with the financial support of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE and German Federal Foreign Office and in partnership with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

To get more information on the subject see a collection publications on environmental issues in conflict-affected area here: https://www.osce.org/project-coordinator-in-ukraine/478393.