Russian news sites are spreading information that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has allegedly found a “use” for people with disabilities – it is going to send them, as well as women, to demine the territory of Ukraine.

“Due to the understaffing of units and the acute shortage of manpower in Ukraine, people with amputations are taken not only into the sappers, but also into the infantry”,  the propagandists add.

However, in Ukraine, the UN is implementing a program to employ people with disabilities. Within the framework of this program, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is expanding employment opportunities in the field of demining and cleaning territories - for women, veterans, victims of explosive objects and people with disabilities. However, this does not mean that these people will work directly with mines, as the propagandists said. The main goal of the program is to ensure equal access to work, creating comfortable and safe conditions.

The first participants in the project, namely four Ukrainian explosive ordnance victims, have already been hired by The HALO Trust, where they will analyse satellite and drone imagery to identify and map mine-contaminated areas. They have been trained in a programme that focuses on the technical and non-technical skills needed to work in mine action.

“Today, much attention is paid to the implementation of policies that ensure equal access to work in the field of mine action, the creation of specialized training programs that will include both technical and non-technical skills necessary for work in this field, and the creation of conditions that will ensure comfortable and safe employment”, said Colonel Oleh Shuvarskyi, Deputy Head of the Main Directorate for Mine Action, Civil Defense and Environmental Safety.