The Thornhill-based charity behind a highly dangerous project to rid war-torn Ukraine of landmines has been singled out for praise and support by the UK government.
Melinda Simmons, the UK’s Ambassador to Ukraine, saw for herself on Tuesday how a brave team from The HALO Trust is ridding areas around the Ukraine capital, Kyiv, of deadly explosive devices.
The UK Government has provided £2 million to support the charity’s work and the visit marked the six-month anniversary of the start of the invasion.
Ms Simmons said: “After six months of this barbaric war, Russia has contaminated much of Ukraine with deadly landmines.
“The UK Government is supporting HALO Trust with £2 million in funding for demining and risk education to protect the most vulnerable communities and help the Ukrainian people take back their land and lives from this deadly threat.”
The HALO Trust is the world’s largest humanitarian mine and explosive ordnance clearance organisation, working in areas of conflict around the globe. It was famously backed by Princess Diana in the late 1990s and, more recently, by Prince Harry.
It has been operating in Ukraine since 2015 and, prior to March this year, its 400-strong Ukrainian workforce was based in Kramatorsk, where it was clearing anti-personnel and anti-tank mines and booby traps.
HALO relocated from the Donbas to Brovary in northern Ukraine immediately after Russian forces withdrew from the Kyiv area, taking many of its original workforce with it and actively recruiting new deminers from the Kyiv region.
Ukraine is now littered with millions of the deadly explosive devices following Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s invasion, and they have already killed or maimed countless innocent civilians.
Today, HALO is clearing mines and remnants of war in various locations in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.
Ms Simmons caught up with The HALO Trust heroes in a forest near the village of Zalissa, north-east of Brovary.
The village came under repeated shelling and was occupied by Russian forces for 24 days in March, but returned to Ukrainian control in April.
However, many houses remain destroyed and there a substantial amount of cluster munitions, anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines still hidden in the area.
At least one local resident has been killed by hitting a tripwire which detonated an OZM-72 anti-personnel bounding fragmentation mine while walking in the forest.
Ms Simmons said she wanted to see for herself HALO’s work and “to understand the horrific wreckage to families, livelihoods and farmland caused by these deliberately planted landmines”.
Afterwards, she said: “The continued Russian targeting of innocent people is abhorrent.
“I saw the commitment of the deminers – many of them Ukrainian men and women working away from their children or with family members fighting on the frontline. Their courage is inspirational.”
Scot Mairi Cunningham, programme manager of HALO Ukraine, is leading the charity’s efforts to find and destroy the hidden weapons.
She said: “Many of my demining colleagues endured weeks of suffering in Mariupol and elsewhere in the Donbas but are determined to work with HALO to remove the explosive remnants of war in their country.
“We are deeply grateful to Ambassador Simmons for showing her support during Tuesday’s visit and would like to thank her and the FCDO for the emergency £2m funding to assist with HALO’s work here.
“Thanks to UK Aid, British taxpayers can be assured they are directly contributing to saving lives and livelihoods in Ukraine.
“Clearing landmines and explosive ordnance is not only necessary for saving lives, but also to help Ukrainian farmers get Ukrainian crops back on the roads and out to export.
“This will be key if we are avoid the global food crisis triggered by the events of March 2022.”
During her visit, Ms Simmons was reacquainted with Tetiana Fediuk, one of the HALO Trust’s first female deminers.
Tetiana comes from a small village in Luhansk region and received the Best Deminer of 2018 accolade after one year of service. Although her home village was occupied by Russian forces in, she managed to leave the Donbas to join HALO operations in Kyiv.
