And we were working down in the Donbas.Īnd we were essentially clearing up the landmines and other unexploded ordinance of the 2014 war. In other words, a few months after the end of the 2014 conflict. So the Halo Trust set up its program in Ukraine in 2015. From a time when we were in 16 countries with about six and a half thousand staff, we're now in 30 countries with nearly 13,000 staff.Ĭoncerning Ukraine in particular, James describes Halo's presence and evolution: But it has grown and changed a lot since I started in 2015. Halo came into being in 1988 in Afghanistan, and it was brought into being to help clear landmines and it's the largest, what's called 'mine action NGO in the world. Giving some background on the organisation, James Cowan says: But I think as far as their 'special operation' is concerned, it has failed.ĭuring the second half of today's episode, host Dominic Nicholls interviews James Cowan, former Major General in the British Army and now CEO of The Halo Trust, a de-mining charity. I was having dinner with people the other night and just to think, 14 months ago, it looked like Kyiv was, going to be taken by the advancing Russian forces.Īnd you look now and and when you look at the situation in the capital and it's just so clear that, Russia has failed. They just have to get on with life and you learn pretty quickly you've gotta get some sleep and deal with it and carry on. I was talking to some people this morning and they were just talking about how frightening it is. The the people of Kyiv have learned to live with it. I heard over a dozen explosions and when I looked out of the window, I could see what looked like flares falling, but I think those might have been the debris from the rockets.Ĭommenting on Kyiv's response to this latest barrage, Heathcliff continued: With artillery it's different, but it was a very noisy night and the hotel shook. I got woken up by the explosions and I've never heard anything like it. He began by talking live to Telegraph Photojournalist Heathcliff O'Malley, who gave a first hand account of last night's missile strike on Kyiv: Dominic Nicholls, Associate Editor of Defence, hosts today's podcast episode.
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