Last month JOA welcomed Colonel Tim Collins OBE Ben Remfrey MBE; the patron and the founder of the charity Friends of Ukraine Explosive Ordnance Disposal (FOU EOD). The event, which took place at Jersey Arts Centre, saw more than 200 people participate in a discussion with the two highly respected military veterans, who shared their thoughts and views on the conflict that has devastated the lives of so many, and sadly shows no sign of ending soon.
Since March 2022, Jersey has supported FOU EOD, a charity that funds the training of Ukrainian civilians in the safe search and disposal of explosive remnants of war, enabling them to secure their International Mine Action Standard (IMAS) qualifications. Since this date, Jersey funds have provided more than 100 course places. The statistics are shocking; according to Ben, Ukraine needs 15,000-20,000 deminers - there are currently only around 1,200 EOD operators in Ukraine - over a thousand have been maimed or killed in service since the conflict began. And as Colonel Collins pointed out, in terms of value for money, there couldn’t be a better way for Jersey to support Ukraine – for every operator trained, they will go on to save hundreds of lives.
Several topics were discussed at the event, many of which struck a chord with me (and I’m sure everyone in the audience), including the repeated reminder that Ukraine is fighting a war on the behalf of us all – if the Russian offensive isn’t defeated or driven back, there is no guarantee it will stop there. Russia, Colonel Collins stated, has an ability (and the manpower) to regenerate, and if they choose to come after others, there isn’t a thing that can be done to stop them trying.
And is the international response proportionate? At present, Ukraine is being given enough ammunition and enough military hardware, to not lose – but they don’t have enough to win either. That’s why, in part, they are at a stalemate – an impasse. Ideally the international community would dig deeper and advance efforts to help bring this conflict to an end.
Another topic which I’m sure stuck with all audience members were the facts and figures around the level of contamination in Ukraine. Due to poor manufacture, age or storage, 60% of Russian ordnance fails to explode – by comparison average failure rates of munitions are usually around 10%. This means fields that should be farmed, woods where children play and even the streets of villages and towns (including homes and buildings) have become death traps, and will remain so long after any cease of hostilities if uncleared. At present, Russia is utilising around 30,000 rounds of artillery, mortars and ammunition on Ukraine every day – and at a failure rate of 60% - that's around 6.6million live, dangerous, unexploded pieces of ordnance that need to be cleared with every year the conflict rages on. Frighteningly, as Colonel Collins pointed out, that means the EOD operators who will clear Ukraine of the last pieces of munition haven’t been born yet. Unexploded ordnance is a scourge that lasts generations – to this day, on average, two Belgian farmers die every year after coming into contact with unexploded remnants of war from WWI while farming their fields.
The other topic that resonated with me was one of decency. With world events being what they are at present, Colonel Collins emphasised that warfare is a ‘horrible business’ and that it’s up to countries involved in conflict to try to get their civilians out of the way to minimise casualties. Atrociously, some regimes do choose to use civilians as human shields. Regardless, there are rules of war and protecting civilians is one of them. People will be held to account, even when they least expect it – the eyes of the world are on them.
So, in conclusion – it’s a marathon not a sprint. The Ukrainians won’t be subjugated, and they won’t concede territory lightly - clearly Russia would need a vast number of personnel to occupy a country the size of Ukraine, so that is highly unlikely. Displaced Ukrainians may not be able to go home for a while yet, so we need to keep up our generosity and hospitality. We must not let the notion of collective security see us let down our guards or become complacent as sadly, when one conflict dies out, another flares up. In Colonel Collins’ words – ‘this is no world to hand to our children and our grandchildren’.
For more information on what JOA funds are achieving in Ukraine visit: Ukraine Response | Jersey Overseas Aid Commission (joa.je)