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Ukraine's President Zelensky presented a medal to the mine detection dog Patron and his owner at a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky on May 9th (local time) in honor of his devoted service.
A two-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, Patron is working to detect land mines and booby traps left behind by Russian troops in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine.
Patron, which means "ammunition barrel" in Ukrainian, wears military police uniforms and runs around with demining team members belonging to the Ukrainian National Emergency Response Headquarters to search for explosives. Every time a mine is found, a demining team member strokes Patron's stomach and gives it cheese. Patron is said to have been trained in explosives detection since it was 6 months old.
President Zelensky said, "We award the heroes who have removed many mines from Ukrainian territory. Patron is a small and respectable combat engineer who prevented the mines from exploding and gave safety to children in areas where the threat of mines was lurking", he praised the dogs.
A video of a small patron about 35 cm tall waving his tail and searching for land mines spread all over the world through social media, gathering a large attention.
2022/05/14 09:37 KST
