“During demining, it is crucial to save the lives and health of our specialists,” said Andrii Danyk, acting Head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, during a meeting with American actor and UNITED24 Ambassador for Humanitarian Demining Misha Collins and film director Darius Marder at a fire and rescue station in Kyiv.

There, the foreign guests were able to get acquainted with the equipment used by the State Emergency Service to transport explosive ordnance. In particular, they were shown heavy and light demining vehicles, which UNITED24 is raising funds for.

“Every day, the SES deminers are working to clear the territory of Ukraine of the remnants of rockets, drones, artillery shells, mines and other dangerous items to save the lives of civilians. At the same time, it is extremely important for us to protect the lives and health of our specialists,” said Andrii Danyk.

The event was also attended by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, who said that the mined area in Ukraine not only affected security but also the country’s economy, as Ukrainian fields could not be used by farmers without mine clearance.

“We met last year, when Misha Collins became UNITED24’s humanitarian demining ambassador. This is a critical task for Ukraine, as a large area of our country is potentially mined. In particular, fields are mined and cannot be used by farmers, which has a significant impact on the economy. That’s why we organised this fundraiser to raise money with the support of ambassadors and buy demining vehicles, vehicles for transporting personnel, and vehicles for transporting explosive items,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

In turn, Andrii Danyk said that the need for vehicles to transport both personnel and explosives was urgent, given the scale of the enemy’s mining of Ukrainian land and constant massive missile and drone attacks.

In total, the SES currently has about 25 heavy armoured demining vehicles, against a demand of more than 90, and 12 light armoured demining vehicles, against a demand of about 70.