“A contribution to the NPU’s effectiveness,” – Japan provides National Police of Ukraine with reflective items and heat packs

On behalf of the National Police of Ukraine, the ceremony was attended by Vasyl Nevolia, Head of the International Police Cooperation Department. “The National Police is forced to work in previously unfamiliar circumstances, ensuring law and order no matter the conditions,” noted General Nevolia. “Our units must learn and develop new expertise quickly, and we have to provide our men and women with the means to do their job well and stay safe. The equipment handed over today contributes to that. We express our sincere gratitude to the Government of Japan for its attention to our needs, and we look forward to continued cooperation.”

The donated items include 20,000 reflective vests, over 158,000 reflective wristbands, and over 130,000 heat packs. The need for them was formulated earlier in the winter, when large parts of the country suffered power and heating outages.

Ambassador Kuninori Matsuda of Japan also attended the event and was able to inspect the delivered goods. “The Government of Japan, as the chair of G7 this year, is determined to uphold the international order based on the rule of law, and to deepen bilateral cooperation standing by Ukraine and its people. Japan commends the important work carried out by the National Police in this difficult time of on-going war. This is the first tangible cooperation extended to the National Police, and we hope that this cooperation will contribute to improving the safety of the dedicated police officers of Ukraine.”

The project focused on delivering the items to Ukraine has been managed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). Elene Agladze, UNOPS Ukraine Partnerships Specialist and In-Country Officer in Charge, said: “Both the Government of Japan and the National Police of Ukraine are long-standing partners of UNOPS, and we are very pleased to be able to facilitate their interaction. Much of what we do in Ukraine at the moment is about addressing urgent needs through emergency projects, but we also emphasize laying the foundations of the country’s sustainable recovery to help it build back better. We have no doubt that this delivery is a steppingstone on the path to comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation.”

This delivery was funded by the Additional Emergency Grant Aid for winterization assistance in Ukraine allocated by the Government of Japan in February 2023. UNOPS and Japan are also working together on the initiative called Emergency Grant Aid for Winterization Response and Provision of Housing to Vulnerable People of Ukraine. As of the beginning of April 2023, it helped deliver 84 high power generators (110kVA and above) to municipal heating, water supply, and sewage companies in the city of Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region and is now preparing to renovate residential buildings in Kharkiv city that have been damaged as a result of the war.