European Union funds new humanitarian mine action initiative with EUR 2 million

Ukrainian handlers with their highly trained dogs are to be deployed to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance across the country in a project funded with a €2million grant from the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI).

The 16 Belgian Malinois will be the first technical survey dogs to be deployed in Ukraine. Together with their eight handlers, who are all Ukrainian women, they underwent extensive training in Cambodia for five months before returning to Ukraine.

Many of the dog handlers had previously studied dog training at Ukraine’s Sumy National Agrarian University. During their dog handler course, they have also been trained in manual demining.

The project is being jointly implemented by humanitarian mine action organisations APOPO, which specialises in the deployment of animals for landmine clearance, and the Mines Advisory Group (MAG).

One of the handlers, Karina Buchma, from Lviv, said: “I really want to help my country, to support people and to make a difference. I grew up with dogs and studied dog training so this is the perfect role for me.

“I underwent training in Cambodia and am very motivated to begin helping communities in Ukraine with my new skills. It is such a pleasure to be able to make such an important contribution. The dog I mostly work with is called Tina and of course, we all love our dogs and have a very special bond with them.”

Huge swathes of Ukraine are contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance, including cluster munitions, more than two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The dogs will be used to supplement MAG’s manual and mechanical clearance efforts in liberated Ukrainian territories, including in Mykolaiv, Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts.

The Director of FPI, Peter M. Wagner, said: “We are pleased to be able to fund this initiative as part of the EU’s support to improve and scale-up humanitarian mine action in Ukraine. We believe that this innovative project can significantly speed up the clearance of contaminated land and its release for civilian use.”

The dog teams will help improve the speed and precision with which MAG can identify contaminated areas, especially in communities with dense vegetation or challenging terrain.

In certain conditions, technical survey dog teams are able to survey large tracts of land much more quickly than human deminers, identifying explosive items and helping to confirm whether land is safe.

When the dog teams find a landmine or unexploded item of ordnance, MAG’s deminers will be tasked with making the item safe.

MAG Ukraine Country Director Jon Cunliffe said: “Dogs have the potential to significantly speed up the clearance of certain types of terrain and contamination. They can be a really important tool when combined with traditional manual and mechanised demining teams.”

Nick Guest, APOPO’s Programme Manager for Ukraine, said: “The EU’s commitment will enable us to return suspected contaminated land to the Ukrainian people much more quickly than would otherwise be the case. We will be recruiting and training new handlers in the coming months as we scale up our operations.”

Background Information

About the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI)

Under the responsibility of the High Representative / Vice President (HRVP), the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) puts EU foreign policy into action. FPI actions range from rapid responses to crises or opportunities, to cooperation with high income countries, election observations, or the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) budget and assistance measures under the European Peace Facility. Discover how we're contributing to make the EU a stronger security, geopolitical and geoeconomic actor and reinforcing EU's influence globally.

Humanitarian mine action is a key element of the support FPI has been mobilising for Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, with a total funding of EUR 55 million up to date.

About APOPO

Since 1997, APOPO has responded to the devastating impact of landmines on people and post-conflict areas by developing a fast, simple, and cost-efficient mine clearance technology that can be sustained within national mine action programs in low-income countries. This humanitarian organization trains and deploys rats and dogs to detect explosives in countries affected by conflict.

As a leading global provider of mine detection animals, APOPO delivers high-performance animal detection teams to partner organizations, saving lives and bringing hope and safety.

Employing over 450 people in 10 countries, APOPO works to safeguard communities from the risk of landmines and other remnants of war, while providing vital support to mine victims within these communities.

More info: apopo.org

About MAG

The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is a global humanitarian and advocacy organisation that finds, removes and destroys landmines, cluster munitions and unexploded bombs from places affected by conflict.

MAG also provides education programmes, particularly for children, so people can live, work and play as safely as possible until they clear the land.

The organisation, which employs some 6,000 people in over 30 countries, also delivers work to reduce armed violence by educating people about the risks of small arms and light weapons and by destroying and marking weapons and helping authorities to safely store arms and ammunition.

Since 1989, MAG has helped over 20 million people in 70 countries rebuild their lives after war. In 1997, MAG shared the Nobel Peace Prize for its role in banning landmines.

More info: maginternational.org

 For media inquiries

For more information or interviews contact:

MAG: Jon Brown jon.brown@maginternational.org   +44 7536 830861

APOPO: Lily Shalom lily.shallom@apopo.org +255 784 490 979 

European Union: delegation-ukraine-press@eeas.europa.eu