LONDON, June 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The HALO Trust, the world's largest landmine clearance charity, has received a $1 million donation from leading algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets to support its mine clearance operations in Ukraine.
HALO, which currently has 800 staff in eastern and southern Ukraine and around Kyiv, will use the XTX funding to equip and train hundreds of new deminers.
James Cowan, HALO's CEO said: "Coming in the week of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, this generous support from XTX Markets will help us as we grow our operations to tackle the largest landmine and explosive contamination seen in Europe since the Second World War. The more support we receive of this kind, the faster we can clear land – saving lives and bringing Ukraine's farmland back into productive use as quickly as possible."
With XTX's support, HALO will purchase 308 Minelab F3 detectors – highly accurate mine detectors whose sensitivity can be adjusted to find landmines even on battlefields contaminated with metal fragments.
The funding from XTX Markets will also enable HALO to train newly recruited deminers in manual clearance techniques at its training centre in Kyiv, and then at other regional training hubs near Kharkiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv. By the end of 2023, HALO expects to employ 1,200 Ukrainian staff equipped to move into heavily-mined territories liberated from Russian occupation.
Simon Coyle, Head of Philanthropy at XTX Markets, commented: "XTX Markets is committed to supporting the immediate humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and the rebuilding of the country and its prosperity. HALO's work is crucial on both counts - saving Ukrainian lives now and restoring Ukrainian agriculture for the future."
Notes to Editors
The HALO Trust is the world's leading humanitarian organisation working to save lives and restore the livelihoods of people affected by conflict. HALO was founded in Afghanistan in 1988 and now employs 12,000 women and men in 30 countries either at war or recovering from conflict. HALO has cleared over 1.9 million landmines, 1.5 million pieces of unexploded ordnance and 10 million bullets in the last three decades.
HALO has conducted life-saving mine clearance operations in eastern Ukraine since 2016 and has rapidly expanded its programme since Russia's invasion in February 2022.
XTX Markets is a leading algorithmic trading firm which partners with counterparties, exchanges and e-trading venues globally to provide liquidity in the Equity, FX, Fixed Income, Futures and Commodity markets. XTX has over 190 employees based in London, Paris, New York, Mumbai, Yerevan and Singapore. XTX is consistently a top 5 liquidity provider globally in FX (Euromoney 2018-present) and is also the largest European equities (systematic internaliser) liquidity provider (Rosenblatt FY 2020-2022).
The company's corporate philanthropy focuses on STEM education and maximum impact giving (alongside an employee matching programme) and supporting Ukraine. Since 2017, XTX has donated over £80 million to charities and good causes, establishing it as a major donor in the UK and globally.
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