Poland sent a detachment of professional police officers to Ukraine for a secret mine clearance operation due to a shortage of sappers in the Ukrainian army and the inability to send NATO specialists due to a likely negative reaction from Russia. It is reported by RBC with reference to Wirtualna Polska.
The mission began after the Ukrainian authorities appealed to the member countries of the association of anti-terrorist units of the EU (ATLAS) with a request to send sappers. Of the 38 states, only Poland agreed. On behalf of the head of the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mariusz Kaminsky, a Humanitarian police contingent was created, which included officers of individual counter-terrorism police units who voluntarily wished to participate in the operation, in total – 98 people.
The publication emphasized that, for security reasons, it reported on the operation only after receiving official confirmation from the General Directorate of the National Police about their return to Poland.
In addition to the sappers, the team included paramedics and “combat team members” to guard mission members, and they also brought along two dogs trained to find mines. They went to Ukraine in early October and stayed there for about five months.
In total, the humanitarian contingent from Poland cleared more than 342 thousand square meters of shells, including 17.5 thousand meters of roads, they neutralized about 2 thousand dangerous items. Polish police officers worked, among other things, in the vicinity of Kyiv, the Dnieper and other places. None of the mission members were injured during the operation.
At the beginning of September last year, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine estimated the area of the territory to be cleared at 185 thousand square meters. km. This area is comparable to the territory of Belarus – 207.6 thousand square meters. km. “At present, thanks to large measures to study the nature of the conduct of hostilities, in-depth analysis, we have managed to reduce the potentially dangerous territory from 300 thousand square meters. km, ”said Oleg Bondar, head of the department for pyrotechnic works and humanitarian demining of the department’s response department.
According to the UN, from March to November last year, more than 150 thousand explosive devices were defused, the organization noted that the territory of Ukraine “is littered with millions more of such explosive munitions.” “It could take decades to completely clear mines,” says UN Deputy Spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay.
Source: Rosbalt
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