The United Nations said Wednesday that $5.6 billion is needed this year to provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine and for the millions of people who have fled the war-torn country.
Nearly a year after Moscow launched a full-scale invasion, the need for aid is “tremendous,” with some 21.8 million Ukrainians in need, he said.
“War continues to cause death, destruction and displacement every day, and on a staggering scale,” said UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths.
More than 7,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine in the past year, and around 12,000 have been injured, according to UN estimates, which are “almost certainly low,” he said launching the appeal in Geneva.
“The suffering of the Ukrainian people is far from over. They continue to need international support.
ALSO READ: Zelensky says Macron talks with Putin ‘useless’
The need is so great that aid organizations cannot reach everyone, but the UN says the $5.6 billion it is requesting will allow it to reach 15.3 million people most in need this year.
– The ‘Massive’ Move –
A $1.7 billion of that amount is needed for assistance to more than four million Ukrainian refugees hosted in 10 eastern European countries.
Most will go to Poland, which hosts more than 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees, and Moldova, the main transit country for Ukrainians making their way to Europe.
Women and children make up about 86 percent of the overall refugee population, according to the United Nations.
READ ALSO: Biden, Zelensky discuss ‘additional capabilities’ for Ukraine’s military
There are nearly six million people displaced in Ukraine in addition to some 4.8 million registered refugees, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said, adding that many were still unregistered.
“Ukraine’s displacement crisis remains the biggest in the world,” he told reporters.
“The scale of displacement continues to be quite large.”
Grandi said that Europe has proven “to be able to act courageously, together to help refugees,” stressing that “international support and solidarity is needed, so that refugees can return home in safety and dignity, which must also be a priority. .”
Since the war began, humanitarian organizations in Ukraine have been working to reach people across the country, with nearly 16 million receiving aid and protection services by 2022, including in areas outside the control of the Ukrainian government.
– ‘Horrible’ –
In Ukraine, “the war has severely affected access to livelihoods and disrupted market stability especially in the southern and eastern regions, which has increased humanitarian suffering,” the appeal said.
It warned that “the majority of Ukrainians reportedly reduced their food consumption and spent their savings,” pointing to rising unemployment, rising inflation and inadequate social assistance.
And while food and other essentials are still available in most of Ukraine’s government-controlled areas, he warned that those things are “difficult for many people without cash, vouchers or livelihood assistance.”
Also read: Britain vows more support for Ukraine as Zelensky visits
And they are “more difficult to obtain in areas subject to constant bombing,” he said, highlighting the “systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure during the war.”
Grandi called on the international community not to get used to the destruction seen every day in Ukraine.
“It’s quite appalling what the Russian invasion has done to the country,” he told reporters.
In 2022, the UN humanitarian agency received 80 percent of the $4.3 billion requested for operations to address the crisis in Ukraine, while only receiving 70 percent of the nearly $1.8 billion requested for refugees.
“We were relatively well funded last year,” Grandi said.
“We count on that generosity for a long time.”