Jersey aid helping with bomb disposal in Ukraine

Jersey donations have helped pay for more than 100 courses on ordnance disposal since the war started in Ukraine.

Col Tim Collins OBE came to the island to talk about the work being done by Friends of Ukraine EOD.

The charity funds a group to teach people in Ukraine how to dispose of explosives left by the fighting.

Col Collins said there is still work to be done and it would take years to clear all the explosives.

There are thought to be 174,000 square kilometres which are contaminated by landmines, which is a bigger area than England, Wales and Northern Ireland combined.

Col Collins came to the island as part of a Jersey Overseas Aid event to raise awareness about the war in Ukraine and unexploded ordnance.

He said: "The danger of these is that children find them after the fighting and pick them up and play with them, which then blow up and either injure or kill them.

"The reality is that the people who clear the last explosives in Ukraine haven't been born yet because it will take so long which is why this charity's work is so important."

Funding from Jersey's official, publicly-funded aid and development agency has helped pay for more than 100 courses on ordnance disposal for Ukrainians since the war started.

Friends of Ukraine EOD is running a specialist school in Kosovo to teach people how to safely disarm ordnance.

Lera Evered is from Kiev and lives in Jersey.

She said this support means a lot to the community in the island: "It's uplifting because it is a great worry that the war will forgotten but this helps people realise how important support for Ukraine is.

"It's incredibly important because so much of the country is mined which is terrible.

"It has a impact on people and farming which affects so many people around the world."

Follow BBC Jersey on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. Send your story ideas to [email protected].