A whole district of Rotarians in the South of England banded together to deliver two drones to Ukraine that will be used to detect mines and unexploded bombs.
The Rotarians of District 1145 used £35,000 of their fundraising from street collections to purchase two drone-mounted magnetometer mine detection devices.
The call for the devices was made by the Rotary Club of Cherkassy, located in an area of central Ukraine famous for its maize, sunflower and wheat production.
The crops harvested in this region not only feed the people of Ukraine but are shipped all across the world and the farmers in the region were under extreme pressure to sow by the end of autumn 2022.
On behalf of District 1145, Ihor Zembovych collected the two magnetometers from SPH Engineering (the manufacturers) and delivered them to Dr Olha Paliychuk, one of Rotary’s medical leads in Ukraine.”
However, after six months of constant shelling, the land was unsafe due to the danger presented by landmines and unexploded ordnance from downed missiles, especially for children going out to play in the fields.
The only way to achieve the required levels of wheat production in time would be to use drones with specialist magnetometers and software for reconnaissance of large agricultural areas. You can watch a demonstration of how the devices work in this video.
This was a truly international effort as the drones themselves came from Germany and the magnetometer fittings and software were delivered from Latvia.
On behalf of District 1145, Ihor Zembovych collected the two magnetometers from SPH Engineering (the manufacturers) and delivered them to Dr Olha Paliychuk, one of Rotary’s medical leads in Ukraine.
The drones purchased by District 1145 have been put to good use in the areas of Cherkassy and Poltava, Ukraine’s largest agricultural regions.
The authorities in Ukraine invited representatives from District 1145 to an online meeting to give their thanks – a meeting which included the two State Emergency Services Chiefs and the Head of the Army in Cherkasy.
