The European Union funds a new humanitarian mine action initiative in Ukraine.

The press service of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine reported that it regarded €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.

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

The new initiative is funded by a €2 million grant from the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI).

Many of the dog handlers had previously studied dog training. 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).

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

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,” the statement said.

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

Large areas of Ukraine are currently contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance, including cluster munitions, but these areas are gradually being cleared.