EU funds €2 million for new mine clearance initiative in Ukraine

Source: EU Delegation to Ukraine

The European Union is stepping up its support for Ukraine with a generous €2 million grant dedicated to a new mine clearance project.

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.

Most of these instructors previously studied dog training at Sumy National Agrarian University. The training not only honed the dogs’ detection abilities but also equipped the instructors with skills in manual demining.

This project is funded by the European Commission’s Instrument for External Action and is being implemented in collaboration with humanitarian organizations APOPO and Mines Advisory Group (MAG), renowned for their expertise in training animals for landmine clearance.