Forty units of machinery and equipment for demining were received by Ukrainian explosive ordnance disposal units from Japan, which are clearing Ukrainian land of unexploded mines and ordnance. The ceremonial handover of vehicles and equipment took place in Kyiv on November 20, 2023, with the participation of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Kiyoto Tsuji, and the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Igor Klymenko.
The ceremony was also attended by the State Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan, Kazuchika Iwata, the Ambassador of Japan to Ukraine, Kuninori Matsuda, and the Acting Chairman of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, Volodymyr Demchuk.
The equipment and machinery were handed over to the Ukrainian side by the Chief Representative of the JICA Office in Ukraine, Satoshi Sugimoto, and the Ambassador of Japan to Ukraine, Kuninori Matsuda, on behalf of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the company "Shabondama Soap Co., Ltd."
"Ukraine is extremely grateful to Japan for the support and assistance your country has already provided to us since the beginning of the large-scale invasion and continues to provide. The current assistance is highly valuable to us because it will help us make our land safer more quickly. The transferred machinery and equipment will help equip and make mobile at least forty demining groups. This means dozens and hundreds of saved lives of Ukrainians and a faster return of agricultural lands to use," noted Yulia Svyrydenko, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.
In total, this time, Ukraine received 20 pickup trucks, 20 station wagons, and 50 ALIS metal detectors from JICA, as well as 150 containers of fire-fighting liquid from the company "Shabondama Soap Co., Ltd."
Recall that several assistance projects initiated or funded by Japan are currently implemented or in the implementation stage in Ukraine. Previously, 12 operational pyrotechnic vehicles were transferred to the State Emergency Service, purchased by UNICEF with the support of the Government of Japan, along with 30 trucks (as part of the "Project for the Development of Humanitarian Demining and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Capacities"). During 2022-2023, a project of international technical assistance in the field of humanitarian demining was implemented by the UNDP Representation in Ukraine with the support of the Government of Japan. Within this project, DSNS received vehicles for pyrotechnic groups, equipment, and gear for sappers, etc. Currently, the implementation of projects "Improvement of Equipment for Humanitarian Demining," designed until 2025, is ongoing. The projects are being implemented under the Grant Agreement for the Emergency Recovery Program between the Government of Ukraine and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
