New FSD project for demining vehicles in Ukraine
Keystone-SDA
The Swiss Foundation for Demining (FSD) has launched a new project to help the Ukrainian State Emergency Service (SESU) repair and modernise its demining vehicles.
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The aim of this initiative, financed by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs with a total budget of CHF7.1 million, is to establish a lasting national capacity.
This was stated by the Geneva-based NGO in a note today. Concretely, the vehicles will be repaired in a workshop in Poltava, Ukraine, and then sent back to the front. SESU currently has around a hundred demining machines at its disposal.
FSD employees will directly train Ukrainian employees, as has been the case since 2023. This reduces costs and dependence on international supply chains.
“Switzerland is helping Ukraine to strengthen its response” in terms of demining, explains FSD director Hansjörg Eberle, quoted in the note. The project will also explore new technologies to improve the safety and precision of mechanical demining in the country, in particular by using drones.
The FSD is also continuing its demining activities with around 580 personnel in the Tchernihiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson regions. In three years, more than 3.5 million m2 have been cleared, more than 127 million m2 have been analysed, and more than 450,000 people have been alerted to the dangers.
Ukrainian vehicles have, for their part, already cleared more than 2,700 hectares. However, the intensity of the device and the lack of renewal of the material represent major challenges, the NGO adds.
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Translated from Italian by DeepL/mga
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