Colombian soldiers to train Ukrainian troops on de-mining operations amid war

Amid the war between Russia and Ukraine, a team of Colombian soldiers will be travelling to Europe to train Ukrainian troops on de-mining techniques. The announcement has been made by the Colombian Defence Minister Diego Molano, Sky News reported. He said that 11 military engineers of Colombo will be heading to a neighbouring country of Ukraine, which is a NATO member country. 

The Colombian Defence Minister Diego Molano said that the team of experts from Colombo had been invited by the United States to provide training to Ukrainian troops. As per the news report, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have expressed willingness to clear landmines in Ukraine. It is to mention here that the war between Russia and Ukraine has continued for more than 80 days and it has led to deaths and destruction in the war-torn nation. Ukraine has claimed that around 29350 Russian soldiers have been killed since Russia's offensive started on February 24.

Approximately 300,000 sq metres of Ukraine need to be cleared of mine: Hakobyan

Earlier on 20 May, Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Mary Hakobyan said that 300,000 square meters of Ukraine need to be cleared of mines, Interfax reported. According to Hakobyan, the clearance of mines in Ukraine will approximately take five to seven years. She said that the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been taking measures to identify explosive objects and neutralize them. Mary Hakobyan said that the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been taking measures to identify explosive objects and neutralize them.

Mary Hakobyan emphasized that Ukraine is aware of all the threats and challenges and is working with its partners to clear the regions of Ukraine in a "more effective" way, as per the Interfax report. She said that negotiations are underway in both bilateral and multilateral formats and stressed the need to deploy a mine action mission in Ukraine. Mary Hakobyan said that the international coordination centre for humanitarian demining would be coordinating and planning all the actions and controlling the contamination of sites. She added that the coordinating centre includes representatives of all departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and international organizations, including the UN Development Program, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and OSCE project coordinators.