KYIV – The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) received 20 armored vehicles donated by the European Union (EU) during an official handover ceremony held on February 3 outside the SMM’s head office in Kyiv. The EU’s donation is part of its support to the OSCE in working towards the stabilization and normalization of the situation in Ukraine.
The Mercedes G-type vehicles, at an estimated value of 685,000 Euros in total, will be deployed to be used by the teams in the east of the country in the coming days. They were previously used by the EU Police Mission in Afghanistan.
“The additional armored vehicles donated by the EU will enable more monitoring activities to be performed safely by the monitors, who work in unpredictable security circumstances in the conflict area,” said Jan Tombinski, head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.
“We are very grateful for this donation that will help safeguard the monitors during their field operations,” said SMM Chief Monitor Ertugrul Apakan. “The European Union has been supportive of the mission and provided financial and in-kind contributions.”
The donation brought the SMM’s road fleet to 188 armored and 132 unarmored vehicles deployed throughout Ukraine.
In 2015 the EU donated 24 armored vehicles to the SMM.