Ministry of Defence initiates establishment of humanitarian demining coordination platform based at Ukrainian Training and Testing Complex (UTTC)

The Ministry of Defence has proposed designating the UTTC Training and Testing Complex as the basic platform for interagency cooperation in the field of mine action at the national level.

This was announced by Colonel Olha Drobot, a representative of the Main Directorate for Mine Action, Civil Protection, and Environmental Safety of the Ministry of Defence. She presented this initiative during a regular cluster meeting on further coordination of mine action in Ukraine.

The UTTC Complex was established by the Ministry of Defence, based on the infrastructure of the Joint Centre of Excellence for Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety. It has become an effective platform for testing innovations in humanitarian demining.

According to Olha Drobot, this platform can serve as a pilot model for new formats of cooperation among government agencies, donors, and manufacturers in the field of humanitarian demining.

“UTTC, as a logistics, training, and communication hub, is already building an ecosystem of testing grounds where technologies are trialed, people are trained, and ideas are brought to life,” noted Olha Drobot.

In addition, cluster participants delivered thematic presentations on the use of virtual reality to raise awareness about explosive ordnance risks, methods and initiatives in underwater demining, and the concept of establishing a unified training system for humanitarian demining specialists.

The event was held in Kyiv with the support of the Ministry of Economy and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).