"It's like a modern smartphone compared to an old phone" – this is how the Head of the State Border Guard Service Serhii Deineko compared newly received and old equipment.

"It's like a modern smartphone compared to an old phone" – this is how the Head of the State Border Guard Service Serhii Deineko compared newly received and old equipment.

The official ceremony of handing over the equipment as a part of international assistance to the State Border Guard Service (within the framework of the Export Control and Related Border Security Program – EXBS) was held today, on September 24 at Odessa Seaport.

“First of all, I want to thank the Head of the State Border Guard Service Colonel Deineko and Rear Admiral Kostur. Today is a new milestone in US-Ukraine cooperation in the context of maritime security. Recently, especially in the wake of the events at the Kerch Strait in 2018, the EXBS Program has steadily enhanced its capabilities in cooperation with the Maritime Border Protection of the SBGS. During the annexation of Crimea Ukrainian Maritime Border Protection lost a lot of capabilities, but in cooperation with the EXBS Program and with Maritime Border Protection, we are trying to rebuild and restore those capabilities,” US Temporary Representative in Ukraine Christina Quinn addressed the audience in her speech.

“For more than 18 years, we have been working with US ministries and agencies. Cooperation has intensified significantly since the Russian aggression in 2014, and we are grateful to our American partners for their support of the Office in the difficult time of Ukraine's struggle for freedom,” Serhii Deineko stressed.

“The Maritime Border Protection operates on the territory of the Azov and Black Seas and the Danube River. The resulting equipment has already been distributed to the Odesa, Izmail and Mariupol Detachments of Maritime Border Protection, one of which is a part of the Joint Force. Some of the equipment is already in active use in the service. Part of the property will be forwarded to the Ismail Maritime Security Training Centre and will be used for personnel training. The most important thing is that for the first time we have received such equipment that will be able to protect our border guards during accomplishing their missions, including those held in the Joint Forces Operation zone. That is, the uniqueness of this equipment providing personal safety of each serviceman,” said Rear Admiral Oleh Kostur, Head of the Maritime Border Protection of the SBGS.

“Today we have received equipment that will enhance our capabilities to accomplish our tasks at sea. Our special operations units will have the state-of-the-art equipment to effectively deal with threats, take part in special events, protecting lives and health of our personnel. We plan to strengthen already existing units of this type and create new ones,” said the Head of the SBGSU.

The abovementioned equipment is operated by the US Coast Guard, so now partner assistance will allow Ukrainian border guards to comply with EU and NATO standards.

Serhii Deineko thanked Ms. Quinn and Matthew Boldin, EXBS Program Manager, for their pragmatic and effective work to strengthen the capacity of the Ukrainian Border Guard Agency. "I am convinced that our cooperation will develop and will have tangible practical results in strengthening border security in the region," said the Head of the State Border Guard Service.

The US representatives assured that they will continue to assist the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, including enhancing the maritime security capabilities in the framework of the EXBS Program. "On behalf of the United States and on behalf of the people of the United States, we are extremely proud to be your allies and jointly guard the borders and provide security both on land and at sea," concluded Ms Quinn, US Chargé d'Affaires ai in Ukraine.

In total, the crews of the ship-boat and special operations units received more than 3,000 items of international technical assistance estimated at about UAH 29 million. This assistance includes many tools that can save lives and health of marine border guards in case of emergency: body armour with positive buoyancy and special suits against hypothermia, and self-rescue insulators of the OCENCO M-20.2 type (providing up to 15 minutes of respiratory protection during evacuation from a smoky room). Also included: wrist GPS navigators, portable gas analysers, a variety of lighting and vehicle inspection equipment.

The inventory of the property for delivery was based on needs analysis of the Maritime Border Protection personnel in their everyday service activities, including the cases of emergency, storms and assault. The experience of utilising and justified expediency of foreign colleagues was also taken into account.