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Sub-Sections:
Ukraine, Landmine Monitor Report 2006

Ukraine

Key developments since May 2005: Ukraine deposited its ratification on 27 December 2005 and the Mine Ban Treaty entered into force on 1 June 2006. In February 2006, the European Commission awarded a €5.9 million contract for the destruction of Ukraine’s 5.95 million PFM-type mines. An EC €1 million tender for the destruction of an additional recently identified 716,746 non-PFM antipersonnel mines was cancelled. The UN conducted an interagency assessment in December 2005; the report had not been completed as of 1 June 2006. Ukraine approved a three-year program to dispose of ammunition at the Novobohdanovka military base. Mine risk education was initiated in 2005 on a regional basis. There were 16 new casualties from unexploded ordnance in 2005, a decrease from 2004.

Mine Ban Policy

Ukraine signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 24 February 1999. On 18 May 2005, parliament approved draft law No. 0253 on the ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty.[1] Immediately after the vote, the President of Ukraine signed the ratification law.[2] Ukraine officially deposited its instrument of ratification with the UN on 27 December 2005, and the treaty entered into force on 1 June 2006.

Ukraine’s initial transparency report required by Article 7 is due by 28 November 2006. Ukraine has not indicated what steps it will take to implement the treaty domestically, as required under Article 9. On 19 January 2006, the Government Committee on Legal and Defense Policy approved the establishment of an interagency working group for preparation of a national mine action program.[3]

Ukraine attended the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Zagreb, Croatia in November-December 2005, but did not make any statements. Ukraine participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2005, where Deputy Minister of Defense Volodymyr Tereschenko reaffirmed his country’s determination to fulfill all the obligations of the Mine Ban Treaty.[4] Ukraine also attended the Standing Committee meetings in May 2006, where it made a statement on stockpile destruction.

Ukraine is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). On 19 May 2005, Ukraine deposited its instrument of ratification for Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. It ratified Amended Protocol II on landmines on 15 December 1999, at which time it deferred compliance with Amended Protocol II’s requirements for self-destruction and self-deactivation of remotely delivered antipersonnel mines for nine years.[5] Ukraine attended the Seventh Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in November 2005 and submitted a national annual report as required by Article 13 on 22 November 2005.[6]

Production and Transfer

Ukraine produced components for Soviet mines, but the government has repeatedly stated that Ukraine has not been involved in production since its independence.[7] Ukraine is not known to have exported antipersonnel mines. Its 1999 moratorium on the export of antipersonnel mines was formally in place through 2003,[8] and in practice stayed in effect until Ukraine ratified the Mine Ban Treaty.[9]

Stockpiling and Destruction

Ukraine is due to officially declare its stockpile of antipersonnel mines in its initial Article 7 transparency report due in November 2006. It has been reported for the last two years that Ukraine has a stock of 5,947,596 PFM-type mines. However, a European Commission (EC) tender for the destruction of antipersonnel mines in the Ukraine noted the existence of 716,746 additional antipersonnel mines of various types (detailed in following table).[10] Thus, it appears that as of mid-2006, Ukraine has a stockpile of 6,664,342 antipersonnel mines.

Antipersonnel Mines Stockpiled by Ukraine

Mine Type
Quantity
POM-2S
148,696
POMZ-2
38,921
POMZ-2M
204,021
OZM-4
4,008
OZM-72
290,177
MON-50
3,593
MON-90
11,685
MON-100
15,645
PFM-type
5,947,596
Total
6,664,342

It appears that Ukraine inherited a stockpile of 7.17 million antipersonnel mines from the Soviet Union, including the 716,746 mines mentioned above, 404,903 PMN-type mines and 6,048,684 PFM-type mines. Ukraine has destroyed 505,991 of those antipersonnel mines since 1999. Destruction of all 404,903 PMN-type mines took place from July 2002 to May 2003 under a Canadian-led NATO Trust Fund project.[11] A total of 101,088 PFM-1 mines were destroyed between March and April 1999 at the Desna Training Center by the Ministry of Defense at a cost of €120,000 (some US$150,000).[12]

The EC announced in August 2005 a €1 million ($1,261,556) tender for the destruction of the 716,746 non-PFM antipersonnel mines stockpiled by Ukraine. The tender envisioned that work would start in January 2006 with completion in 36 months.[13] However, this tender was cancelled on 25 October 2005.[14]

The EC launched a project in 2002 to prepare the destruction of Ukraine’s PFM mines. In mid-2003, an EC technical study determined that the condition of the PFM stockpiles was good; the mines have since been consolidated into two sites, from a previous total of 13 storage locations.[15] In 2004, the EC completed a research project that assessed destruction methodologies, and then took a decision to commit sufficient funds for the destruction of the PFM mines.[16] In June 2005, the EC announced that it had concluded the negotiation of the terms of reference of a €6 million ($7.5 million) project to destroy the mines.[17]

In late June 2005, the EC announced a €6 million ($7,568,091) tender for the destruction of Ukraine’s PFM-type antipersonnel mines with work to begin in January 2006 and completion within 36 months. The tender specified that the contractor will provide for two destruction facilities and treat “liquid and gaseous effluents to levels of concentrations of contamination acceptable for release into the environment, specified in [the Government of Ukraine’s] granted licenses and permits.”[18]

This tender was apparently cancelled in September 2005.[19] However, the EC announced in February 2006 that the contract was awarded to a consortium including Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH (Germany), GRV Luthe Kampfmittelbeseitigung GmbH (Germany), DYNASAFE AB (Sweden) and Ingenieurbüro Döring GmbH (Germany), for the amount of €5,910,000 ($7,473,764.79).[20]

Ukrainian organizations have protested the EC tender procedures and the award. The director of the Pavlograd Chemical Plant in a letter to the President of the EC claimed that all Ukrainian respondents to the tender were unfairly removed during the initial stage of the competition for a lack of experience in the international destruction of ammunition, despite having 56 years of experience in destroying conventional ammunition.[21] The director also alleged several irregularities, which violate EC tender procedures.

The Ukrainian liaison officer to the tender committee also alleged numerous irregularities in the tender procedures and the technical basis for the award to GTZ. Specifically, he alleged that the technology proposed by GTZ for dismantling PFM cassettes violates Ukrainian safety and environmental regulations. He also alleged that GTZ’s proposal was incomplete and deviated substantially from the technical award criteria.[22]

The NGO Ukrainian Mine Action Agency (UMAA) stated that the GTZ proposal and the tender award by the EC violate several elements of the terms of reference agreed to by Ukraine and the EC. Specifically, the UMAA has alleged that the dismantling of PFM cassettes and the open detonation of PFM mines is technically non-compliant with the agreed terms of reference. UMAA has also said that the process of obtaining the necessary licenses and permits was not followed by the contractors.[23]

Landmine and ERW Problem

Ukraine is affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), both unexploded ordnance (UXO) and abandoned explosive ordnance, mostly as a result of heavy fighting between German and Soviet forces in World War II.[24] The scope of this problem is not exactly known. The Ministry of Emergency Situations has estimated that there were up to 1,000 battle sites on Ukrainian territory. The Ministry of Defense is said to have some records for minefields from World War II. Information was previously held or reported at a local or provincial level and not necessarily collated nationally, making it difficult to obtain an accurate nationwide picture of the problem of World War II ordnance.[25]

In addition, many modern ammunition depots are overstocked and located in close proximity to densely populated areas.[26] In Sevastopol, for example, a large underground depot consisting of many chambers houses up to 10,000 tons of munitions. This site is currently the subject of a complex disposal operation, as the roof of the chambers collapsed due to a partial detonation that occurred in 1942. This has created concern that the pressure of the rock may cause a detonation, which would be devastating to the inhabited areas, which sit in the potential fallout zone.[27] On 6 May 2005, nine ammunition depots in Cvetoha, Khmelnitskiy area, exploded following a fire.[28]

One subcategory of the World War II munitions problem concerns sea mines and the dumping of munitions at sea. Landmines have been found on the shore in the Crimea, and sea mines have been found in the Black Sea off the Crimean coast. Other munitions have been dredged up from the sea bed, including suspected chemical munitions.[29]

Mine Action Program

There has been no formal mine action program in the Ukraine. On 19 January 2006, however, in accordance with proposals by the Ministry of Defense, the Government Committee on Legal and Defense Policy was said to have approved the establishment of an interagency working group to prepare a national mine action program.[30] No further details had been reported by June 2006.

Clearance of World War II mines and ordnance was previously carried out by demining units from the Ministry of Defense, explosives units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the Bomb Disposal Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In November 2005, the President of Ukraine issued a decree giving sole responsibility for clearance operations to the Ministry of Emergency Situations from 1 January 2006.[31]

A non-governmental initiative, the Ukrainian Mine Action Coordination Center (UMACC), was established in January 2004 as a joint project of six Ukrainian organizations, to support Ukrainian ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty and to establish itself as an expert body for the implementation of mine action in Ukraine.[32] UMACC has in turn established the Humanitarian Mine Action Forum, which brings together a number of NGOs to discuss issues and activities in mine action. It is chaired by UMACC and is said to be attended by NGOs and commercial companies involved in all five pillars of mine action.[33]

On 12-17 December 2005, following a request from Ukraine the previous May,[34] the UN conducted an interagency assessment mission to Ukraine, led by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). By 1 June 2006, the report had not yet been finalized.[35]

Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty requires that all mined and mine-suspected areas under Ukraine’s jurisdiction or control are identified, fenced and marked, prior to destruction of all antipersonnel mines in mined areas as soon as possible and no later than 10 years after the treaty entered into force for Ukraine on 1 June 2006.

Demining

In 2005, the explosives units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations conducted 3,116 emergency operations; these resulted in the destruction of about 39,000 munitions, including 3,609 mines.[36] In January 2006, the Ministry of Emergency Situations conducted 102 clearance operations, which resulted in the destruction of 375 ERW, including 46 landmines.[37]

In July-August 2005, the Joint Explosives Unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations received training at the Ministry of Defense’s Demining Center, and then started explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) operations at a military base in Novobohdanovka, in Zaporizhzhya region. In August-December 2005, together with the Fourth Regional Rescue Unit, teams collected about 1,101,392 ERW. During January 2006, a further 10,988 ERW were collected.[38]

The base at Novobohdanovka has 107 ammunition storage areas (36 vaults and 71 open storage platforms). As a result of a fire in May 2004, some 60 percent of the ammunition was either destroyed or strewn over an area of more than 400 hectares (4,000,000 square meters).[39] On 26 January 2006, the government approved a three-year program to dispose of rockets and ammunition at the Novobohdanovka base during 2006-2008. The Ministry of Emergency Situations would be responsible for the coordination of clearance operations.[40] Also in January 2006, Transimpex, a Ukrainian company, and ArmorGroup, a UK company, conducted a survey of contamination in and around the Novobohdanovka storage depots.[41]

In 2005, Luxembourg contributed €20,000 ($24,898) to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for mine clearance and the destruction of stocks of dangerous ammunition in Ukraine.[42]

Support to Mine Action

Ukrainian deminers continued to participate in UN/NATO peacekeeping operations in other countries. In December 2005, Ukrainian peacekeeping contingents finished demining in Iraq and returned to Ukraine. On 9 January 2005, during an EOD operation in Wasit province in Iraq, eight Ukrainian soldiers were killed and nine others injured by ERW.[43]

In March 2006, in accordance with a decision by the UN in December 2005, the Third Engineer Battalion of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) finished its demining work and returned to Ukraine.[44]

Mine Risk Education

There is no mine risk education (MRE) program on the national level in Ukraine. On a regional level, however, in 2005-2006 the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Emergency Situations in cooperation with local authorities and demining teams conducted limited MRE to prevent casualties among military forces and civilians in UXO-affected zones in Artemovsk, Cvetoha, Novobohdanovka, Kerch and Sevastopol. Television and radio channels provided warnings about the dangers of UXO, and guidance on safe behavior in areas suspected to be dangerous. These warnings, reinforced via the Internet and press agencies, were prompted by explosions in ammunition depots, such as those in Cvetoha in May 2005.[45]

Other public information shown from time to time on national television included interviews with military officers, police and NGOs, as well as programs on the work of Ukrainian deminers abroad.[46]

According to the ministries of defense and interior, demining specialists also conducted basic MRE for civilians in affected areas before initiating clearance operations. MRE sessions are based on the professional technical background and individual experience of the trainer, rather than on any standard script or specific educational materials.[47]

Ukraine did not include information on the MRE campaign in official reports submitted to the UN, NATO, EC or OSCE. International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) have not been applied to MRE in Ukraine and no national standards have been developed.[48]

The areas where children regularly find and tamper with UXO were Novobohdanovka, Artemovsk, Kerch, Sevastopol, Kiev, Vinnytsya and Kharkov.[49] Teenagers are the most at-risk group. Local school administrations have asked state officials for mine awareness training every year, especially in the heavily mine/UXO-affected zones around ammunition depots where explosions have occurred. People in Novobohdanovka and Yavoriv protested that the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Emergency Situations had failed to inform them about military exercises and EOD operations including the destruction of UXO by open detonations. Demining and EOD undertaken by open detonation has reportedly caused environmental problems.[50]

Ukraine has no early warning system for civilians in case of emergency. There is no interagency plan for evacuation of the civilian population and military personnel when major explosive incidents occur.[51]

In schools, some elements of MRE are taught to grades 11 and 12 for youths undergoing pre-conscription military training. The Academy of Pedagogical Science and the Ministry of Emergency Situations developed a curriculum and teacher training manual for instructing children in school on how to respond to dangerous and emergency scenarios.[52] As the curriculum does not address the threats and risks posed by mines and UXO, the NGO UMACC proposed the inclusion of MRE in the curriculum for schools in mine-affected areas, with teacher-training and materials based on international best practice.[53] No textbooks or manuals on MRE for secondary schools had been published by May 2006.

UNICEF is said to have been requested by Ukrainian NGOs to assist in establishing professional MRE.[54]

Landmine and UXO Casualties

In 2005, UMACC recorded 16 new UXO casualties in Ukraine: three people were killed and 13 were injured, including 10 military personnel injured in explosions at the ammunition depot in Cvetoha in May.[55] Civilian casualties were attributed to tampering with UXO for the scrap and explosives; details of the gender and age of the casualties were not provided.[56] This represents a decrease from the 20 UXO casualties in 2004.[57]

In Iraq, on 9 January 2005, “a remote-controlled mine blast” killed eight Ukrainian military personnel and one Kazakh deminer during EOD activities in Wasit province; seven other Ukrainians were injured.[58]

No new landmine/UXO casualties were reported as of 1 May 2006.[59] However, on 23 April, an improvised explosive device injured 18 civilians, including two children, in the city center of Kharkov.[60]

The total number of mine casualties in Ukraine is not known, although there are estimates as high as 80,000 mine survivors among 300,000 disabled war veterans. Between 2000 and 2005, Landmine Monitor recorded 95 mine/UXO casualties, including 41 people killed and 54 injured. The majority of civilian casualties appear to be due to UXO.[61]

The Accounting Chamber of Ukraine confirmed that errors within the State Register, the database on veterans and other disabled in Ukraine, prevent an accurate account of veterans and landmine/UXO casualties, and that this has also impacted budget appropriations for benefits to veterans and other disabled people.[62]

On 4 April 2006, the Chairman of the Mine Survivors Union, speaking at a joint press conference on the First International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, stressed the “vital necessity to form a database of mine survivors in the state, which would help to effectively assist these people.”[63]

Survivor Assistance

Ukraine provides financial support for medical rehabilitation in sanatoria, and provides social services including transportation, housing, healthcare and free delivery of food and medication to war veterans, in accordance with the national law for veterans and people with disabilities. Disabled veterans are entitled to pensions; however, these are reportedly too low, at less than half the official minimum wage. The state budget in 2005 initially provided US$30 million for the medical rehabilitation of disabled people. The real needs are estimated as $54 million.[64] In 2005, Ukraine provided a total of $157 million for state programs to serve both veterans and people with disabilities.[65]

In March 2005, the newly elected President of Ukraine closed the Ukrainian State Department for Veterans Affairs, which had coordinated state policy on veterans and war victims. This led to high-level governmental meetings and public demonstrations by veterans’ groups.[66] The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy was assigned responsibility for veterans and people with disabilities, and proposed the creation of a Joint Council for Veterans Affairs. The general lack of coordination for the delivery of services and failure to implement reforms at the state level led to criticism from the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine. In October 2005, it revealed that UAH87.3 million ($16,921,523) of state funds intended for support to veterans was misappropriated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy for other programs.[67]

In February 2006, 26 NGOs, including veterans and disability associations, united in an independent response to the October report of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, and created a coordination committee to protect the interests of veterans, disabled people and war victims.[68]

Disability Policy and Practice

Ukraine has laws that protect the disabled, prohibiting discrimination in employment, education, access to healthcare and other state services. On 21 September 2005, the national newspaper, Den, cited the State Committee for Statistics that only 14 percent of the disabled were employed; however, the new government has raised the minimum wage three times, to UAH330 ($64) monthly.[69]

In January 2006, parliament adopted a new law for the social protection of “children of war”; the law applies to those born during or before World War II, and those killed or injured by ERW. The budget for implementation of the new law is $160 million.[70]


[1] “Ukrainian parliament ratifies land mine convention,” UNIAN News Agency (Kiev), 18 May 2005. Ukraine attributes the long period between signing and ratifying the treaty to its need for financial and technical assistance to destroy its large stockpile of PFM antipersonnel mines within the treaty deadline.
[2] Report of the Press Service of the Parliament of Ukraine, 18 May 2005, www.rada.gov.ua.
[3] Decree of the Government of Ukraine, 19 January 2006, www.kmu.gov.ua.
[4] Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, “Meeting Report, 15 June 2005,” Geneva, June 2005.
[5] This deferral until 15 May 2008 became irrelevant when Ukraine became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, as it is now prohibited from using antipersonnel mines and obligated to complete destruction of stocks within four years.
[6] The UN mistakenly posted this CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report on its website for Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports.
[7] Report of the Interagency Working Group on Mine Action to the conference, on “Ottawa Convention: Ukraine’s participation,” Kiev, 11 February 2003.
[8] Order of the Prime Minister of Ukraine, No. 426, 22 March 1999; report of the Interagency Working Group, Kiev, 11 February 2003. In June 2003, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that it was not necessary to extend the moratorium as the government intended to ratify the Mine Ban Treaty in the near future. Statement by Vladimir Dzyub, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the meeting of mine action experts, organized by ICBL-Ukraine, UNDP and Atlantic Council of Ukraine, Kiev, 3 June 2003.
[9] Statement by Elena Syrota, Mine Action Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Conference on Implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, Kiev, 17 May 2004.
[10] EC Tender Electronic Database, “Destruction of APM munitions in Ukraine,” 2005/S 160-159330, 20 August 2005, p. 2.
[11] For details see Landmine Monitor Report 2003, pp. 546-547. This included 111,607 PMN-1 mines and 293,296 PMN-2 mines.
[12] Materials and documents of the working meeting of representatives of state institutions and public organizations, “The Ottawa Convention and its Significance for Signatory Countries,” Kiev, 17 May 2004. The approximate US$ equivalent is calculated at 2004 exchange rates.
[13] EC Tender Electronic Database, “Destruction of APM munitions in Ukraine, Service procurement notice,” (2005/S 160-159330), 20 August 2005.
[14] EC Tender Electronic Database, “Destruction of APM munitions in Ukraine, Cancellation of a service tender procedure,” (2005/S 160-159330), 25 October 2005. Average exchange rate for 2004: €1 = US$1.2438, used throughout this report. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 3 January 2005.
[15] EC, presentation by Peter Krejsa, “Destruction of PFM-1 Stockpiles in Ukraine,” Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 15 June 2005.
[16] EC Office of External Relations, “EC Assistance to Ukraine on antipersonnel landmines,” 6 June 2005. This noted that the “Commission took already in 2004 the financial decision to commit up to €7 million ($8.7 million) to support destruction of the PFM-1 antipersonnel landmines stockpile in Ukraine.”
[17] EC Office of External Relations, “EU and Ukraine launching project on the destruction of landmines,” 16 June 2005.
[18] EC Tender Electronic Database, “Destruction of PFM-1 ammunition in Ukraine, Service procurement notice,” 2005/S 122-119857, 28 June 2005.
[19] EC Tender Electronic Database, “Destruction of PFM-1 ammunition in Ukraine, Cancellation of a service tender procedure,” 2005/S 185-182121, 24 September 2005.
[20] EC Tender Electronic Database, “Destruction of PFM-1 ammunition in Ukraine, Service contract award notice,” 2006/S 23-024635, 3 February 2006.
[21] Letter from Leonid N. Shyman, General Director of State Enterprise “RIC PKhZ” (Pavlograd Chemical Plant) to EC President Jose Manuel Barroso, 26 December 2005, p. 3.
[22] Statement of Vitaliy Shved, PhD, Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Defense and Project Liaison Officer, undated, p. 6.
[23] Open letter from Roman Karpenko, UMAA, to GRV Luthe Kampfmittelbeseitigung GmbH, (121/05/06), 9 June 2006.
[24] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 654–655.
[25] UN, “United Nations Mine Action Inter-Agency Assessment Mission to Ukraine, 12-17 December 2005,” Draft Report, June 2006, p. 3.
[26] Eugen Marchuk, Minister of Defense, quoted in Narodna Armiya (newspaper), 8 July 2004.
[27] UN, “United Nations Mine Action Inter-Agency Assessment Mission to Ukraine, 12-17 December 2005,” Draft Report, June 2006, p. 3.
[28] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 655.
[29] UN, “United Nations Mine Action Inter-Agency Assessment Mission to Ukraine, 12–17 December 2005,” Draft Report, June 2006, p. 3.
[30] Governmental Decree of 19 January 2006, www.kmu.gov.ua.
[31] Decree No. 1842/2005 of the President of Ukraine, 10 November 2005.
[32] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 912.
[33] UN, “United Nations Mine Action Inter-Agency Assessment Mission to Ukraine, 12–17 December 2005,” Draft Report, June 2006, p. 4.
[34] UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) letter to UMACC, 24 May 2005; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 655.
[35] Email from John Flanagan, Chief of Programme Support Section, UNMAS, 31 May 2006.
[36] Ministry of Emergency Situations, “Annual Report 2005,” www.mns.gov.ua.
[37] Ministry of Emergency Situations, “Monthly Report: January 2006,” Kiev, February 2006.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Ibid.
[40] Governmental Decree No. 47 of 26 January 2006.
[41] Ministry of Emergency Situations, “Information Report,” Kiev, July 2005.
[42] Email from François Berg, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luxembourg, 30 March 2006.
[43] Report released by Press Service of the Ministry of Defense, Kiev, 9 January 2005.
[44] See report on Lebanon in this edition of Landmine Monitor.
[45] Statement by Vitaliy Turov to the Forum of Mine Action Community in Ukraine, Kiev, 13 December 2005.
[46] Ibid.
[47] Interview with Maj. Gen. Vasiliy Melnitskiy, Director, UMACC, Kiev, 13 December 2005.
[48] Ibid.
[49] Ibid.
[50] Interview with Col. Anatoliy Zhukov, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vinnica, 11 December 2005.
[51] Interview with Larisa Bayda, Director, Fund for Youth Culture Education, at the Forum of Mine Action Community in Ukraine, Kiev, 13 December 2005.
[52] Interview with Col. Anatoliy Zhukov, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vinnica, 11 December 2005.
[53] Interview with Larisa Bayda, Fund for Youth Culture Education, Kiev, 13 December 2005.
[54] Statement by Larisa Bayda, Fund for Youth Culture Education, at the Forum of Mine Action Community in Ukraine, Kiev, 13 December 2005. According to the UNICEF representative in Kiev, this happened several years ago. UNICEF requested a proposal and none was forthcoming. Interview with Jeremy Hartley, UNICEF Representative in Ukraine, at the meeting of UN Global Compact Initiative, Kiev, 25 April 2006; email from Jeremy Hartley, 5 July 2006.
[55] Email from Yuri Donskoy, Coordinator, Ukrainian Campaign to Ban Landmines, and President, Soldiers of Peace International Association-Ukraine/UMACC, 4 June 2006. It was reported previously that nine military personnel had been injured in the Cvetoha incident; see Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 656.
[56] Email from Yuri Donskoy, Ukrainian Campaign to Ban Landmines, 4 June 2006.
[57] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 656.
[58] “The commander of a Ukrainian battalion in Iraq and 9 other military was killed by a remote-controlled land-mine blast while performing their EOD duties,” UNIAN (Kiev), 10 January 2005.
[59] UMACC report for the ISPEX 2006 International Mine Action Conference (1-2 June 2006), Kiev, June 2006, p.3.
[60] Email from Yuri Donskoy, Ukrainian Campaign to Ban Landmines, 4 June 2006.
[61] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 656; Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 915-916.
[62] Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, “Results of investigation on using of budget money on social protection of veterans of war,” report N 23-4, 25 October 2005, Kiev.
[63] “Ukraine: Increasing Mine Awareness and Providing Assistance in Mine Action,” UNIAN, Kiev, 4 April 2006.
[64] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 656.
[65] Ukraine Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, “State Budget Report 2005,” Kiev, 23 March 2006, www.mlsp.gov/ua, accessed 11 July 2006.
[66] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 657.
[67] Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, “Results of investigation on using of budget money on social protection of veterans of war,” report No. 23-4, 25 October 2005, Kiev. Average exchange rate for 2005: US$1 =5.15911, Landmine Monitor estimate based on www.oanda.com.
[68] Email from Yuri Donskoy, Ukrainian Campaign to Ban Landmines, 4 June 2006.
[69] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Ukraine,” Washington DC, 8 March 2006.
[70] Parliament of Ukraine, Information Report of Press Service, Kiev, January 2006, www.rada.gov.ua.