Assistance to the Government of Ukraine in Clearing the Territories in the East of Ukraine from Explosive Remnants of War (ERW)

The project focuses on enhancing the capacity of the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) to conduct humanitarian demining in the east of Ukraine. Several SESU teams will be provided with urgently needed equipment such as protective clothing, telecommunications equipment, vehicles and metal and explosive material detectors. Moreover, the SESU employees will be trained to use of the donated equipment, while the operating procedures will be brought into line with current and situation-specific standards.

Objective

To increase the capacity of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) to clear relevant territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of ERW by:

• Updating EOD standard operating procedures;
• Providing tools, equipment, and vehicles necessary for EOD teams;
• Raising public awareness about the dangers of ERW.

Background

The FSC Support Section developed a project in which the overall goal is to eliminate risk to the local population in the east of Ukraine posed ERW left in the designated territories as a result of the hostilities from 2014-2015.

Activities

Enhancing the capacity of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU) by:

• Improving the relevant standing operating procedures (thus, the safety and efficiency of the clearance operations) and existing instructional explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) course for the instructors and operators;
• Providing lacking technical tools and EOD equipment, as well as necessary vehicles for the EOD teams in Donetsk and Luhansk regions to ensure effective emergency response to the existing challenges in the designated areas and efficient clearance of larger territories contaminated with ERW;
• Contributing to public awareness about the dangers posed by ERW with clear-to-understand safety instructions.

Results

• Development of 4 SoPs.
• Procurement of the EOD related equipment.
• Assistance provided in developing an indoor training facility for the EOD personnel.