Kyiv, 20 June 2022 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the financial support of the European Union, procured a shipment of personal protective equipment for the rescue units of the State Emergency Service (SES) in the war-ravaged east of the country, where the most intense fighting continues.

The supplies included 240 bulletproof vests, helmets and first aid kits, which were delivered to the SES warehouse in Lviv. From there, the protective equipment will be distributed among the units currently involved in rescue operations in towns and villages of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa oblasts.

Martin Schroeder, Head of the Local and Human Development Section at the EU Delegation to Ukraine said the long-standing cooperation between the EU and UNDP in the support to the SES allows to timely respond to the needs that arise among rescuers and the civilian population living in the communities most heavily affected by the war, as active hostilities continue.

“During the war, the State Emergency Service has proven to be a reliable support for all Ukrainians and thanks to the SES many lives were saved. This is the best proof for us that our partnership is effective indeed,” Mr. Schroeder said. “We are glad to continue uniting and stepping up our efforts to lay a solid foundation for the accelerated recovery of the war-torn communities, where every Ukrainian will feel protected and safe.”

Manal Fouani, acting UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine, said UNDP is expanding its support to the State Emergency Services to enhance their level of preparedness for rescue and emergency activities. Provision of such critical protection and life-saving equipment are in shortage in such times of war and UNDP stands ready to scale up its support to local institutions for effective emergency response.

“The professionalism and utmost commitment with which the Ukrainian rescuers continue to perform their critical tasks, often putting their own lives on the line, is only a demonstration of their resilience and resolve,” Fouani said. “Our key goal here is to address their priority needs as quickly as possible because by strengthening the response capacity of the rescue teams, we are actually helping to save lives of civilians caught up in the conflict.”

Viktor Vitovetskyi, Director of the Department for the Civil Protection Measures of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, said the supplies will enhance the ability of rescue units to respond more effectively to many threats posed by the war in Ukraine.

“We are grateful to our UNDP partners, who continue to support the SES in these difficult times for the country,” he said. “Thanks to the protective equipment received, our rescuers, working often in the hottest spots, will feel safer and will save even more lives.”

The total cost of the protective equipment and first aid kits is US$250,000 (UAH 6 million) and was procured within the context of the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme.

Background

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Twelve international partners support the Programme: The European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland.

Media enquiries

Yulia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Communications Lead; e-mail: yuliia.samus@undp.org