OSCE helps Ukraine to clear Donetsk and Luhansk regions of unexploded ordnance

KYIV, 30 July 2015 – An OSCE-supported project aimed at strengthening the State Emergency Service of Ukraine’s (SESU) capacity to clear explosive munitions in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions has launched today in Kyiv.

The high priority project provides training, equipment and assistance to SESU staff, who are facing a major clean-up operation to remove unexploded ordnance and explosive devices left in Eastern Ukraine as a result of the 2014-2015 hostilities. These are the result of shelling with high calibre ammunition, such as mortar shells, grenades, missiles, rockets and improvised devices which were either abandoned or did not detonate as intended. In 2014 alone, 150,493 items of unexploded ordnance were retrieved by SESU.

The project was developed by OSCE and SESU following a request from the Ukrainian government and a needs assessment conducted by OSCE experts in March this year. It received strong support from OSCE participating States, resulting in a one million euro financial contribution from the German government.

The project will be jointly implemented by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine and the OSCE Secretariat in close cooperation with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

Speaking at today’s event, Jeffrey Erlich, Deputy Head to the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, said that the project is important in boosting Ukraine’s efforts to eliminate risk to the lives of people, their property and important state infrastructure.

Mykola Chechotkin, Head of the State Emergency Service, added that the project was top priority for Ukraine and came at a very important moment. It was a significant contribution to measures for humanitarian demining in the East of Ukraine.

Wolfgang Bindseil, representing the German Embassy in Kyiv, stressed Germany’s steady support for Ukraine. He pointed out that this latest commitment was part of a larger German assistance effort to improve safety of the civilian population in Ukraine. “Safety allows development; development enhances stability and stability leads to security,” he said.      

Kateryna Bila, Head of Arms Control and Non-Proliferation at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed the life-saving nature of the project. “Providing equipment and technical assistance is not the ultimate goal – what is most important is that by safeguarding the lives of the people working on the ground, we are then able to go on and save the lives of thousands of civilians.”

Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, OSCE, and German Embassy in Kyiv also attended the event.