Zaporizhzhia, 10 April 2020 – UNDP has supplied the Main Departments of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk oblasts with 60 motor-sprayers to fight the spread of the COVID-19 disease. In addition, the Main Department of SES of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia Oblast received 2,000 items of personal protective equipment.

The transfer of the equipment was organised by UNDP under the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP). The Main Departments of the SES of Ukraine in each oblast have already received 20 sets of special equipment for disinfection, the procurement of which was funded by the governments of Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

“The outbreak of the novel coronavirus poses challenges never seen before for communities in eastern Ukraine, endangering the lives and health of the locals,” said Rustam Pulatov, Programme Coordinator of the UN RPP’s Social Cohesion and Community Security Component.

“We’re committed to providing all the vital help needed by communities to help them fight the danger,” he added. “The transfer of disinfecting equipment is an important part of the systematic work that’s already being implemented by the UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme to stop the further spread of COVID-19.”

Oleksii Lepskiy, a major general of civil defense service, and Head of the Main Department of SES of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, expressed his colleagues’ thanks for the assistance.

“On behalf of all rescuers of Zaporizhzhia, I thank the coordinators of the United Nations Development Programme for their assistance and support for initiatives to resolve the urgent issues that our country is facing,” Lepskiy said.

The equipment will be sent to the SES units that provide rapid responses to emergencies and situations in the amalgamated communities of Berdyansk and Berdyansk district, Melitopol and Melitopol district, as well as the Yakymivska, Kyrylivska, Pryazovska and Prymorska amalgamated communities.

Media enquiries

Maksym Kytsiuk, Communications Associate, UN Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme, maksym.kytsiuk@undp.org, +380 63 576 1839

Background

The United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP) is being implemented by four United Nations agencies: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Twelve international partners support the Programme: the European Union (EU), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the governments of Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.