Toxic rocket fuel component now fully removed from Ukraine with OSCE support

VIENNA, 11 March 2014 – A train carrying 490 tonnes of mélange, a toxic rocket fuel component, known as “Melange”, which was being stored in deteriorating containers in Ukraine, safely arrived today at a disposal facility in Russia, marking the successful completion of the removal operation of a project implemented by the OSCE, Ukraine and a Russian contractor.

The last batch of the highly toxic substance arrived at the Sverdlov factory in Dzerzhinsk, in Russia’s Nizhniy Novgorod region, where it will be disposed of by the end of March.

The mélange had been stored at two sites in Bila Tserkva, in the Kyiv region and Lyubashivka, in the Odessa region. The OSCE team deployed to the sites co-ordinated and closely monitored all activities to ensure the safe and secure loading, and cross-border transportation of the last load of mélange from 26 February to 9 March.

In this regard, the OSCE highly appreciates the cooperation and commitments of all stakeholders to this project, from both Ukrainian and Russian sides, throughout the entire final stage.

Mélange was used as an oxidizer for rocket fuel for intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles. According to the Treaty between the USA and the USSR on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) of 1987 (entered into forth for Ukraine in 1992), the acute necessity to dispose of “Mélange” emerged in the process of Ukraine’s fulfilment of its international commitments. Since the launch of the project’s disposal phase in 2009, more than 16,000 tons of this highly dangerous toxic liquid, inherited by Ukraine from the former Soviet Union, have been disposed of.

The mélange disposal project was implemented by the OSCE Secretariat. Financial support was provided by the following OSCE participating States: the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden (Swedish International Development and Co-operation Agency) and the US.