The shipment of another batch of melange, a highly toxic liquid rocket fuel component, which is stored at a military base A-2136 in Shevchenkivsky district in Kharkiv region, and its transportation for disposal to Russia have begun, according to the regional media center of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine in Kharkiv.
"By the middle of this month we are planning to remove an additional 380 tonnes [of melange] after this batch is sent," Commander of the storage facility for rocket fuel of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Oleksandr Nikolayev said.
As of March 12, some 2,300 tonnes of melange and other liquid substances were stored at the rocket fuel storage facilities of the Ground Forces.
The removal of melange for disposal in Russia is carried out under a joint project of Ukraine and the OSCE. The project foresees removal of all melange (more than 2,700 tonnes) that was stored in Kharkiv region as of early December 2012.
Financial support for the melange disposal project launched in 2009 was provided by Denmark, Spain, Germany, Norway, Poland, the United States, Hungary, Finland, the Czech Republic and Sweden.
As reported, two batches of 380 tonnes of melange each were removed for disposal to Russia in December 2012 and in February 2013. It is planned that the rest of melange will be removed completely by the end of this summer.
