Disarmament Solutions (DS) Visit to MAT Kosovo
February 17, 2023
PCM & MAT Kosovo’s work with FoU-EOD Courses gets featured in Cambridge University’s Newspaper
March 13, 2023
One Year in, Overview of Our Work with Ukraine
As we mark the 1st Anniversary of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, we look back at the last year and reflect on the massive effort made by many. Our short film outlines this magnificent effort!
Included in this is our own reaction and support of Ukraine through the provision of IMAS EOD Conventional Munitions Disposal training. In support of Friends of Ukraine-EOD, PCM and MAT Kosovo, along with Alfords, were first to welcome Ukrainians into Kosovo for their IMAS EOD training.
Since March 2022, PCM & MAT Kosovo have hosted and supported over 120 Ukrainians from across the National Agencies, Rescue Services, MOD Engineers, and local and international NGOs. All of whom underwent 4-6 week intensive courses, where these great people had what was literally a crash courses in IMAS EOD levels of competency, courses which were enhanced and made country specific to the threat posed in Ukraine.
To even get to the stage of training delivery, PCM recruited a dedicated band of interpreters from Ukraine, brought them to Kosovo and trained them in technical terminology before translating all the IMAS CMD courses into the Ukrainian language, a mammoth task on its own. Those interpreters and translators are often forgotten but have been critical in the success of the project to date.
The PCM and MAT Kosovo support staff have worked round the clock in the last year to ensure that we could do our bit, make things a little easier and better for those Ukrainians who left home in the most trying of times, to learn the best way to assist their country in mitigating the effects of the Explosive Remnants of War.
In 2023 we will undoubtedly be busier, we thank ‘FoU-EOD’ for their trust, and we thank the FoU-EOD donors for enabling those who have attended training in 2022, and those who will attend training in 2023, to get the very best preparation possible.
While we are acutely aware that this first anniversary of the invasion is far from a celebration of any kind, we wish to mark the occasion with this short film, featuring the courses to date and those who attended them and are now back home and operational, we salute you all and ‘Slava Ukraini’!!
