We Live Here: 146 sapper groups receive pickup trucks and equipment from "Come Back Alive" and Kyivstar

The Foundation for Competent Assistance to the Army “Come Back Alive” has provided transport and basic equipment to the last 40 engineering and demining groups of the Armed Forces Support Forces as part of the joint initiative “We Live Here” with Kyivstar. In total, 146 groups received support under the project.

“The units of the Armed Forces Support Forces are demining both the de-occupied Kharkiv and Kyiv regions and the areas of Kherson, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia where the combat operations are ongoing. We started providing them with passable, reliable vehicles and equipment under the We Live Here project last summer. This has already significantly strengthened the sappers in performing demining and engineering reconnaissance tasks and saved many lives,” says Taras Chmut, director of the Come Back Alive Foundation.

The first demining teams received assistance in July 2023. Since then, as part of the “We Live Here” initiative, the Foundation has provided defenders from 11 military support units with equipment, including:

• 42 modular explosion-proof suits; 
• 146 new pickup trucks;
• 146 metal detectors;
• 146 machines for remote detonation of ammunition;
• 146 Autel quadcopters for additional reconnaissance of mined areas;
• 146 tablets for mapping data on mined areas;
• 146 оmmeters; 
• 146 group demining kits;
• 292 coils of wire; 
• 438 Motorola radios;
• 438 probes;
• 438 waist kits of demining tools and the same number of individual kits.

It should be noted that all specialized demining tools and devices, as well as explosion-proof suits, are made in Ukraine. 

“Come Back Alive has been consistently working in the area of mine safety since 2016. Training the military and providing all components of the Defense Forces with demining equipment is a large part of the organization’s work. However, “We Live Here” is the first such large-scale project of the Foundation in this area. Together with our partners and thanks to donations from thousands of people who care, we managed to cover all the urgent needs of the mobile demining groups of the Support Forces for transport and basic equipment. This is a significant help to the military in clearing our country of the consequences of the war and in performing tasks at the frontline,” says Viktoriia Dvoretska, head of the instructional department of the Come Back Alive Foundation and the We Live Here project.

Raising UAH 175 million for the demining project started in May last year. Come Back Alive and Kyivstar announced its completion on February 13. Thanks to the contributions of concerned Ukrainians, foreign partners, subscribers and employees of the mobile operator, as well as dozens of business and cultural representatives, we managed to accumulate UAH 180 million.

“I am sincerely grateful to our sappers who are clearing Ukraine of the dangerous legacy of war and to everyone who supported the initiative “We live here”. Together, we have exceeded the ambitious goal of 175 million and raised 180 million hryvnias to help our defenders make our land safer for life,” said Oleksandr Komarov, CEO of Kyivstar.

The “Come Back Alive” Foundation will also use the funds raised above the target to purchase demining equipment for the Support Forces.