15 Ukrainian deminers trained in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Fifteen Ukrainian deminers are being trained by experts in Cambodia who are among the world s best because of the experience from clearing the remnants of nearly three decades of war.

Ukrainian deminers are being hosted by the Cambodian Mine Action Center, a government agency that oversees the clearing of land mines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia. The weeklong program began Monday and is supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Heng Ratana, the director general of the mines, said Ukrainians would be trained by Cambodian experts at the Mine Action Technical Institute in the central province of Kampong Chhnang, visit demining sites in the northwestern Battambang province and visit a museum dedicated to land mines and unexploded ordnance in Siem Reap province, home to the famous Angkor temples.

He said the training will focus on mine clearing using technology including a Japanese detection device called the Advanced Landmine Imaging System.

Human Rights Watch said last June that Russia is using land mines in Ukraine that are causing civilian casualties and suffering, as well as disrupting food production. Russia and Ukraine have used anti-vehicle mines, while Russia and Ukraine have used anti-vehicle mines, it said.

Cambodia was littered with landmines and other unexploded ordnance after almost three decades of war ending in the late 1990s. An estimated 4 million to 6 million unexploded devices remain unidentified and continue to kill people.

Since the end of the fighting, nearly 20,000 people have been killed and more than 45,000 have been injured by leftover war explosives, although the average annual death toll has dropped from several thousand to less than 100.

Cambodian deminers have become one of the world's most experienced, and several thousand have been sent under UN auspices to work in Africa and the Middle East in the past decade.

In November, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen pledged to send Cambodian demining experts to train their Ukrainian counterparts in a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Hun Sen said that the Cambodian deminers will be sent to Poland, a staging ground for much assistance to Ukraine, but Heng Ratana said Monday the number of deminers to be sent and their destination has not been finalized.

The offer came after Hun Sen, in an unusual move for a nation that usually aligns itself with Russia and China, condemned Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, saying Cambodia is always against any country that invades another country. Cambodia was one of nearly 100 U.N. member countries that co-sponsored a resolution condemning Russia's invasion.

Several other countries, including the United States and Germany, have already provided demining assistance to Ukraine.