The new equipment will help reduce the risks to rescue teams as they carry out their duties during the pandemic and in hazardous operations

Mariupol, 24 February, 2021 – The European Union, together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, has provided a large consignment of decontamination equipment to the rescue units of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES) in Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.

Rescue units will be able to use the new equipment – specially equipped showers – to carry out decontamination activities for their employees involved in operations during the pandemic. The equipment is also useful for operational disinfection to protect rescuers from the effects of accidental releases of chemicals or biological substances. 

The UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme's Social Cohesion and Community Security Component coordinator, Rustam Pulatov said the danger to rescuers in eastern Ukraine during the COVID-19 pandemic had increased significantly.

"Once again, we express our gratitude for the work that the SES units in eastern Ukraine are selflessly doing,” Pulatov said. “The technical equipment we’re supplying together with our European partners will help reduce the impact of risks that rescuers have to face almost every day, and make their work safer."

Mykhailo Pshyk, Head of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Luhansk Oblast, said the disinfection equipment would be greatly appreciated. 

"We thank our partners from the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme for the systematic supply of equipment, including decontamination showers for SES personnel in Luhansk Oblast,” Pshyk said.

“Such equipment is really needed just now, because while the COVID-19 pandemic continues we need additional protection for our employees."

The mobile inflatable disinfection system, purchased by UNDP under the UN RPP with European Union funding, can be transported and set up quickly at any location where it is needed. The total cost of the equipment was US$ 79,214 (over UAH 2 million). 

In December, UNDP and the EU also supplied disinfection equipment to SES units in Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. 

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 Organization 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 & Switzerland.

Media enquiries

Maksym Kytsiuk, Communications Associate, the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, maksym.kytsiuk@undp.org, +380 63 576 1839