Kamyanets-Podilsky, Ukraine – The first class of Ukrainian military personnel being trained by the Canadian Armed Forces graduated on September 19, 2015, after a week of intensive training at the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence Demining Centre in Kamyanets-Podilsky, Ukraine.

 

The course focused on key combat engineer skills, such as range conduct and conventional munitions disposal, which were tested during field training exercises under the watchful eyes of Canadian Armed Forces explosive ordinance disposal experts. 

 

“We delivered training on a number of key skills that will set the foundation for subsequent advanced training,” said Major Matt Littlechild, the Canadian officer leading the Counter Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) training portion of Operation UNIFIER.  “Each of these students is an instructor at the Demining Centre. They will use the knowledge they have gained on this course to improve subsequent training at the Demining Centre.”

 

The next phase of training at the Demining Centre will be the partnered delivery of additional engineer training to a larger group of Ukrainian military personnel, followed by training on advanced techniques on countering IED using Canadian-donated explosive ordinance disposal equipment.