Since we began our aid work in April 2022, we have noticed an ongoing problem with mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) throughout Ukraine. This combined with a variety of unexploded ordinance that now litters the country - largely in civilian areas - needs to be diffused and safely disposed of. We are already personally aware of multiple cases of these unexploded bombs maiming, and in one case tragically killing a young Ukrainian girl.
During our aid drops to Bucha and Irpin last April, our military escort told us that when his unit attempted to remove the dead civilians after the Russian occupation of the cities, they found a booby-trap explosive under almost every body, and advised us not to touch anything as even pieces of paper (i.e. remnants of children's diaries) had been wired up by the Russians. This is sadly one example of a common trend across the war-torn nation.
Unlike conventional warfare, mines and IEDs do not discriminate, they will just as likely kill or maim civilians as well as members of the military.
Therefore, we now think it is necessary to train the Ukrainian army to defuse these explosives to minimise the impact on civilian populations. Currently, the Ukrainians do have de-mining teams, but these are sparse and thinly spread across Ukraine, with some areas we delivered aid to still having unexploded ordinance over six months after they were occupied.
Other areas are marked with tape to indicate there are mines present, however, this tape usually will be damaged by the elements within a few days of being placed.
We have even had situations where people have mistaken us for soldiers and begged us to remove unexploded shells or landmines from their properties as they are unable to grow the crops they need to survive.
We have experience in delivering training sessions to the Ukrainian armed forces and have already carried out military training on a variety of different skills, however, we are now streamlining our efforts to focus on de-mining and defusing explosives.
Our aim is to roll out training that can be given to soldiers of a variety of different skills and assist them in making civilian areas safe.
We have the necessary approval and permissions from the Ukrainian army to deliver this training, however, we need funds to contribute towards equipment and logistical costs associated with providing this.
When suitable we also plan to give a more basic training to select civilians to help them identify different explosives and mines. However, we will reserve the defusing and de-mining training solely for soldiers so as to not risk any accidents.
We have two qualified volunteers who will deliver the de-mining training and they will operate in Ukraine indefinitely. Please help us save innocent lives.