The servicemen and women of the Royal Engineers Corps taught Ukrainian soldiers Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). They learned how to defuse and remove mines, ammunition and other explosive devices.
Mines, ammunition and other explosive devices pose the greatest danger to civilians in Ukraine. They are also the most significant inhibitor of the Ukrainian offensive. British forces therefore consider it critical that Ukraine’s armed forces receive knowledge in the area of munitions detection, disposal methods, and search procedures to counter improvised explosive devices (IEDs), mines, booby traps, and trip wires.
Training includes conducting a threat assessment, planning mine clearance operations, and hands-on clearance exercises. This includes large land areas, trench systems, bunkers, and civilian buildings. The final exercise consists of sweeping a complex area under your own command. Metal detectors and mine detectors are used to accomplish this. Among them are the Vallon detectors donated by the United Kingdom. In addition, soldiers also learn to improvise detectors with material available on the front lines.
Since the beginning of 2022, UK forces have trained 23,500 Ukrainian soldiers. In addition, in early 2023, the United Kingdom committed to training an additional 20,000 members of the Ukrainian armed forces.
“Our support for Ukraine is unwavering, and I want to make clear that we will continue to support Ukraine to ensure that it wins this war and regains its sovereignty,” said Grant Shapps, undersecretary of defense. Putin’s illegal invasion, he said, has left Ukraine’s fields and cities littered with deadly land mines and unexploded ordnance. This, he said, poses an imminent danger to the Ukrainian people.
