Ukraine: Aid Workers
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the protection of humanitarian demining personnel in Ukraine in the context of the attack on Norwegian People's Aid staff in Kherson Oblast on 24 June 2026.
Answered by Stephen Doughty
Attacks on humanitarian personnel in any circumstances are totally unacceptable, and it is deplorable for staff engaged in the already hugely dangerous work of demining in Ukraine to be killed or injured by Russian strikes. Russia's illegal invasion has left Ukraine with extensive explosive ordnance contamination, threatening civilians and acting as an obstacle to recovery, reconstruction and the safe return of displaced people.
Since June 2022, through the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's Global Mine Action Programme, the UK has funded UK NGO The HALO Trust to deliver humanitarian mine action interventions in Ukraine, latterly with UK NGO Mines Advisory Group and Ukrainian Deminers Association as downstream partners. Our demining efforts have released over 1,131,304 square metres of land and provided Explosive Ordnance Risk Education to 134,491 beneficiaries (June 2022 to end March 2026).
The UK has also provided equipment and training to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and the State Transport Special Service to strengthen Ukraine's humanitarian demining sector. Our funding for these efforts in Ukraine is just one aspect of our wider support for demining activities in countries and regions across the world, delivered primarily through our Global Mine Action Programme.
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