In February of this year, few people believed in a large-scale war in our country. On February 24-25, not everyone believed that the enemy would be under the walls of the capital and peaceful settlements would be occupied. At the end of February, many believed that civilian facilities would not be shelled, that this was a military war. At the beginning of March, almost no one knew about phosphorous and cluster bombs, and how to handle explosive objects. Now, most people do not believe in the use of chemical, bacteriological and nuclear weapons by the enemy. But the reality is different in contrast to optimism and the price of neglecting safety – this is personal health and life, as well as the health and life of relatives.
Igor Molodan, a safety expert at the Ukrainian Deminers Association, has been working on civil safety issues in various extreme conditions for more than 20 years. The author of several books and safety programs for the civilian population, in the Armed Forces of Ukraine was engaged in civil-military cooperation, both with the population in general and in the Joint Forces Operation area, and has extensive experience in the safety of the civilian population in the combat zone, including an assessment of the realities of today.
In April, the Ukrainian Deminers Association, with the support of the UN, launched a new educational safety product “Safety of the civilian population in combat area”, which not only informs the population about the correct behaviour in the war zone but also trains security instructors to quickly disseminate vital information among the population of communities.
The course program includes algorithms for actions of the civilian population in case of various cases of aggravation of the situation.
Our safety coach Igor Molodan has already informed during this time 1,425 people (1,179 men and 246 women) and 220 safety instructors have been trained (180 men and 40 women) in Lviv, Ivano – Frankivsk, Ternopil and Chernihiv regions. Classes were held using modern interactive forms of adult education.
Everyone can be involved in our classes, provided that groups are gathered independently in the classroom. Our program will also be of interest to enterprises that are engaged in the safety of their employees. Requests for conducting classes on “Safety of the civilian population in combat area” can be sent to our e-mail: ua.deminers@gmail.com with the subject: “Attention to Igor Molodan”.
We are sure that the result of our joint work will be:
• the lives of our fellow citizens were saved,
• restoring people’s ability to live safely,
• reduction of socio-psychological tension in society.
Implementation of the project of the Ukrainian Deminers Association has become possible thanks to the support of the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA Ukraine).
During the ongoing aggression of Russia against Ukraine, and the growing military-political and socio-psychological tension around our state, the UDA’s mission “Let’s make this world safe together” is becoming particularly relevant today.