Cambodia will send sappers to train Ukrainians

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has agreed to send sappers to help train Ukrainians to clear landmines planted by Russian forces during their invasion.

About this reports Washington Post.

During a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen promised to send demining instructors to Ukraine in cooperation with Japan.

Cambodia became one of the most heavily mined countries in the world during the nearly three decades of war that ended in 1998, putting civilians at great risk, especially in rural areas. Since then, a large number of mines and other unexploded ordnance have been removed and destroyed, greatly reducing the number of casualties. Cambodian sappers have become some of the most experienced in the world, and over the past decade several thousand have been deployed under UN auspices to work in Africa and the Middle East.

Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, said that after consultations with Japanese partners, his agency will send its first team to Ukraine in early December, and the second team may be sent in the first quarter of 2023.

Cambodia also became one of nearly 100 UN member states that co-authored a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Cambodia’s two neighbors, which were also part of the socialist bloc, Vietnam and Laos, abstained. Hun Sen recently condemned Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory and expressed concern over recent attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, according to a ministry statement.

We will remind that a family with a 4-year-old child was blown up by part of a rocket in Kharkiv Oblast. They all died. The head of the family found the explosive device in the field and brought it home, where he detonated it.

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