Proven Expertise
Many foreign politicians and experts believe that the deployment of the Ukrainian peacekeeping force in Iraq is Ukraine’s best move to enhance the country’s image abroad. Last Wednesday the first group of 134 peacekeepers successfully returned from Iraq, where they carried out their mission as part of the Fifth Detached Mechanized Brigade. On the Boryspil Airfield the peacekeepers were welcomed home by defense minister Yevhen Marchuk, Land Forces Commander-in-Chief Petro Shuliak, their families, and journalists.
On behalf of the president and top defense officials the defense minister congratulated the peacekeepers on “having successfully completed an extremely important mission assigned to you by your homeland and returned home. You had to support peace and ensure the safety of the people in a war-ravaged country. You participated in creating, developing, and supporting such essential social institutions as schools, hospitals, and courts. And this will go down in the history of the Iraqi people. What you have created there, serving under difficult conditions, is a good precondition for the flag and image of Ukraine to be raised to the heights in the rating of world countries. And such is the opinion of not only the Defense Ministry and Ukraine in general but also of the international community and, most importantly, the Iraqis themselves,” Marchuk stressed in his address. The minister also decorated the peacekeepers with a Defense Ministry badge of honor saying, “Peacekeeper of Ukraine.” For many of these young men this is the first decoration in their life. And in their eyes one could easily read pride for the duty discharged, for their brothers-in-arms and their country, which welcomes its soldiers with honors, as well as fatigue from a long flight, separation from their families, and a foreign reality.
Immediately after the brief ceremonial welcome, passing customs, and reuniting with their families, the peacekeepers headed for Bila Tserkva for physical examinations.
Later they will be able to stay with their families at resorts of the Defense Ministry. According to Yevhen Marchuk, so far 270 servicemen of the Fifth Brigade have applied for stays at such resorts.
Speaking of the results of their mission in Iraqi, the peacekeepers mention their significantly improved professional skills. Notably, Lt. Col. Valery Hmyza, who returned home with the first group, said that “for most of those who served in Iraq the prospects of professional growth and not money, as many would think, motivated them to go to Iraq.” According to him, the Ukrainians are happy with the results, since “aside from enhancing their military skill they have also acquired diplomatic skills” as a result of day-to-day communication with the local population that is living through trying times, with hostilities still raging in the country.
That same day 105 Ukrainian peacekeepers of the Sixth Detached Mechanized Brigade arrived in Iraq to relieve the group that was leaving for home. It is planned to complete personnel rotation on March 3. It will be recalled that in late August 1,656 servicemen of the Fifth Brigade were deployed in Iraq as part of the multinational peacekeeping force.
In the Sixth Brigade 47% of the personnel are under 25, 35% are aged between 25 and 30, 16% between 30 and 40, and the remaining servicemen between 40 and 50. 23% of the personnel have a higher education, 14% a secondary technical education, 34% special secondary, and 29% secondary education. 86 servicemen have been on peacekeeping missions before and 54 participated in hostilities. The brigade consists either of professional servicemen or those hired on a contract basis.
Ukraine has contributed to peacekeeping efforts since 1992. Over this period, Ukrainian servicemen have participated in ten peacekeeping missions. Currently, Ukrainian peacekeepers are stationed in Iraq, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.
