A symbolic moment: this Monday, 13th May at the Hamburg Police Academy, Global Clearance Solutions (GCS) CEO and co-founder Philipp von Michaelis presented Andy Grote (SPD), Hamburg's Senator of the Interior with the first of four of our state-of-the-art, remote-controlled demining machines with attachments. The decision by Hamburg’s senate to support Ukraine’s demining efforts, allocating approximately €10 million for delivery of aid, including medical supplies and demining equipment, builds on the “Pact for Solidarity and Future” and was partly funded by donations from Hamburg’s local population.

On hand to demonstrate our cutting-edge technology was Tobias Griesmeier, Senior Technical Advisor at GCS. This machine will start demining with the National Police of Ukraine in June, with three more GCS-200 units supplied by Hamburg arriving from August. Senator Grote underlined the importance of demining for saving lives: “The mining of large parts of Ukraine is one of the greatest dangers that the war poses to the population there”.

Also present were Iryna Tybinka, Consul General of Ukraine in Hamburg, and Oleksii Makeiev, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany. Ambassador Makeiev emphasised demining as the first step for creating conditions for economic recovery: "I am grateful to Hamburg and the Interior Ministry for showing a clear understanding of the importance of securing Ukrainian land for all further processes of normalisation of life with their support.”