NEARLY US$4.3 BILLION REQUIRED TO RESPOND TO WORSENING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN UKRAINE

The Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, has today called on the international community to continue its support for life-saving operations in Ukraine, as the war continues to drive an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the country. The call comes as the United Nations and humanitarian organizations in the country revised the Humanitarian Flash appeal to respond to the worsening situation. The financial request increased from US$2.25 billion to $4.3 billion to make sure aid workers in the country have the funding and resources necessary to continue delivering critical assistance and protection services to people across Ukraine until December 2022.

“Over the last five months, we have seen how local, national and international humanitarian organizations have joined efforts across Ukraine to increase the scale and scope of operations and provide assistance to more than 11 million people. The reality is that more people need support,” said Denise Brown, explaining that at least 17.7 million people—over a quarter of Ukraine’s population—will need humanitarian aid in the months ahead. “This is an increase of about 2 million more than what we had estimated during the last revision of the Flash Appeal, in April. And we fear it can even get worse during the winter, as more people will probably displace from areas where they cannot access gas, fuel or electricity to heat their homes,” she added.

Supporting people during the harsh cold season is one of the priorities during the months ahead. The destruction of thousands of houses and the lack of access to fuel, gas or electricity due to damaged infrastructure could become a matter of life or death, if people are unable to heat their homes.

A scale up of the cash assistance is also planned, targeting now 6.3 million vulnerable people until the end of the year. During the first five months of the war, at least 2.3 million Ukrainians received cash assistance to make sure they could make their own choices to meet their vital needs. This also creates a link with the national social protection programme and local markets.

The Humanitarian Coordinator stressed that in addition to the funding, aid groups in Ukraine will need safe and unimpeded access to all war-affected areas. “Since the war began, access has been extremely challenging in areas beyond the control of the Government of Ukraine. I call on the parties to the conflict to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law and facilitate the humanitarian response to make sure we can support every person who desperately needs assistance, no matter where they live.”