KYIV, July 16 – The U.S. Department of State has transferred new equipment worth $5.8 million to Ukraine's State Special Transport Service (SSTS) in order to support humanitarian demining operations in territories liberated from Russian troops, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine reported.

"Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has contaminated massive swaths of the country with landmines and unexploded ordnance, posing grave threats to civilian security and impeding Ukraine's economic recovery. In response, the Government of Ukraine has recruited thousands of new deminers from across the SSTS and other agencies," the report noted.

According to the U.S. Embassy, the donated equipment includes four GCS-100 remote-controlled demining machines with attachments to address varied explosive hazards and environments; spare parts; mobile maintenance workshops; and trucks, trailers, and cranes to transport the machines to the field. The donation also includes four armored excavators, vehicles, and personal protective equipment.

The handover follows the SSTS’ successful completion of mechanical demining training provided by Tetra Tech in western Ukraine under a joint U.S.-Canadian initiative. Since October 2022, this joint initiative has trained 1,076 Ukrainian government deminers in various basic, intermediate, and advanced technical demining competencies. The United States has contributed $118 million and Canada has contributed CAD 12.5 million to the initiative.

Since February 2022, the United States has provided more than $182 million for humanitarian demining efforts in Ukraine, supporting training and equipment for the Government of Ukraine and the deployment of contractor and non-governmental organization demining teams across nine oblasts.

This assistance has helped displaced communities to return home, enabled farmers to return to their fields, and equipped brave Ukrainian deminers with the skills and equipment to make their country safe and facilitate economic recovery, the U.S. Embassy reported. (tl/ez)