The Department of State provides $91.5 million for training, equipment, and demining teams this year.
By the spring of 2023, the US authorities will form and finance the work of 100 demining teams in Ukraine.
This was stated by the representative of the US State Department, European Affairs Manager Michael Tirre, Voice of America reports.
Tirre noted the high efficiency of Ukrainian sappers, who since March, have neutralized about 500,000 explosive objects. At the same time, he said that the Ukrainians needed additional exercises since there were already losses among the sappers during work.
The US State Department will allocate $91.5 million this year for training, equipment, and support for the work of demining teams in Ukraine.
"This programme is unique. It is the only one among foreign-funded projects for the training of sappers in Ukraine. Other projects provide for Ukrainian specialists to travel abroad. In addition, all government organizations can participate in this project and share their experience. It was created as a program for coordination between donor countries. Let's say several countries plan to supply equipment but cannot hold training courses in Ukraine. Our project will help fill this gap," Tirre said about the essence of the project.
Todd Bigg, vice president of Tetra Tech, which received emergency humanitarian demining assistance, said three US-backed demining teams are already preparing to work in eastern and southern Ukraine.
"Now we have three teams in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions, they are starting to explore the territory to identify explosive objects, which will make it possible to enter the relevant information into the Ukrainian base. Then these demining teams will receive tasks and resources in accordance with international standards," he said.
At the same time, Bigg noted that the Americans are set for long-term cooperation since it will take years to clear Ukrainian territory. "When the hostilities are over, we will move on to the planned cleansing of the territory," Bigg shared his plans.
