According to fresh estimates by the authorities in Kiev, clearing of mines requires an area of the country of nearly 174 1000 km2. But Ukraine, struggling with the Russian invasion, can number on unobvious allies. Experts from Cambodia became active in the training of the bomb squad there. And in the background of this cooperation there is simply a Polish thread.
A fewer days ago, there was a mention of an agreement between Japan and Cambodia. Both governments launched a task to aid mine Ukraine. shortly the State Emergency Situations Service there will receive a modern bomb bomb machine, and the Ukrainian troops will undergo training in Cambodia.
The agreement is another installment of cooperation started in 2022. It was then that the first group of bomb squads from Ukraine went to Phnom Penh. On site, they could practice under the supervision of professionals from the Cambodian Mine Action Center – a highly specialized unit that was created in the 1990s. Cambodia then resembled a large minefield. It was a grim effect lasting for nearly 3 decades of fighting. In 1970, a civilian war broke out in the country, which brought to power the far left organization of the Khmer Reds. During the four-year rule, they murdered 1.7 million actual and imaginary enemies, and were yet overthrown by the armed intervention of neighboring Vietnam. However, the people of Cambodia could not full breathe. Hiding in the Khmer jungle for years, they fought a partisan battle. The heritage of the stormy past became 6 million minutes, with roads and farmland being planted. Cambodia would not have dealt with this problem if it had not been for abroad aid. It was at that time that the fresh authorities established cooperation with Japan, then the Cambodian Mine Action Center was created. The army began to mine the country step by step, gaining more experience. Today, Cambodian bomb squads belong to the world's top priority. Their skills were useful even during the UN mission in various parts of the world. Now the authorities at Phnom Penh have decided to support the Ukrainians.
Ukraine, thanks to the Russian invasion, experiences any of what had previously happened to Cambodia. The Russians, fearing counteroffensives, began to massively replace the occupied territories at any point. According to fresh estimates by the authorities in Kiev, cleaning requires an area of nearly 174 1000 km2. Ukrainians have neither the strength nor the means to do it themselves. In addition, armed action is inactive taking place on a vast part of the mined lands. Wherever possible, however, they work in sweat. The mine is the army, but besides the mentioned State Service of Ukraine for Extraordinary Situations. Both can number on abroad support.
The organization of training in Phnom Penh and its surroundings, alongside the CMAC, was engaged in by the nipponese global Cooperation Agency and the Polish global Solidarity Foundation, which operates under the patronage of the president of Poland. 2 miners-pirotechnicians, representing Polish police, besides went to Cambodia. Classes for respective Ukrainian bomb squads were conducted in January 2023. 3 months later, experts from Cambodia and Ukrainians checked in... Poland. The course was continued at the Legionary Police Training Center. Now the nipponese abroad Minister Yoko Kamikawa announced that the aid would continue, and Ukrainian experts would shortly return to CMAC. Or Poland? She didn't mention that.
Training of Ukrainian bomb squads at Camp Sapper global Center in Poland.
Help coming from Asia is simply a surprise to any extent. This is not, of course, about Japan, which has been a proven ally of the West for years and at the same time has an old dispute with Russia (formally Moscow and Tokyo did not sign the peace treaty after the end of planet War II). The nipponese authorities already in the first hours of the Russian invasion supported Ukraine not only in the political dimension, condemning the Kremlin and joining the sanctions imposed on Russia, but besides sending material aid to Kiev going into billions of dollars.
What else is Cambodia? The country has been an ally of China for decades, which in turn increasingly openly supports the Russian war machine. It could so be expected that the authorities in Phnom Penh would adopt a neutral attitude at most in view of events in Europe. It's expected to be. According to Radio Free Asia, in February 2022 the abroad Ministry intended to issue a message expressing concern and a call for peace. This has not changed until after the strong intervention of then Prime Minister Hun Sena. In the end, Cambodia powerfully condemned Russia – besides at the UN-ethet, and with this attitude continues to this day. According to analysts, it could have been an eye released to the West, which turned distant from Hun Sena after he pacified the opposition in 2017 and began imposing increasingly authoritarian governments on the country. Meanwhile, Cambodia needs western money and investment.
But there's another hypothesis. Hun Sen could support Ukraine at the request of China, who wanted to show that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict could go very different ways. The Kremlin doesn't truly substance to them. The Beijing business is important.
Either way, the pro-Ukrainian attitude of Cambodia has become an Indochina phenomenon on the peninsula. And I think she started to bear fruit, which was symbolized by the arrival of president Joe Biden at the Phnom Penh Summit of East Asia. But breaking the deadlock won't be easy, due to the fact that Cambodian authorities are hard to abandon the authoritarian model of governance. In early July, planet agencies reported that environmental leaders of the “Mother Nature” organization were sentenced to 8 years in prison who protested against the degradation of the Tonle Sap River and the debauched developer. The Dracon sentences were to be a punishment for the alleged effort to overthrow the Hun Manet government (son of Hun Sena; in 2023 he succeeded his father as Prime Minister) and King Norodom Sihamoni. In addition, Cambodia does not want to unduly distance itself from Beijing. In March, the American “Newsweek” reported that the Chinese are most likely looking to make a base in the Cambodian Ream for their navy, which seriously concerns the US administration.
However, Cambodia's engagement on the Ukrainian side, regardless of the circumstances behind it, surely has its value. In turn, the fact that Poland is changing somewhere in this arrangement confirms only its position as 1 of Kiev's most crucial “attractors” on the global stage. due to the fact that although the war behind our east border has been going on for more than 2 years, 1 remains unchanged. The more chances of triumph – or at least endurance – Ukraine will have, the safer Europe can feel. In particular, the mediate East.
