UN Needs $52Mln To Provide Humanitarian Assistance In Ukraine Ahead Of Winter - Spokesman

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2019) The United Nations urges the global community to contribute $52 million to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine before the beginning of the winter season, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

"In Ukraine, the UN and our humanitarian partners are urgently calling for $52 million to address the most acute and time-critical humanitarian needs ahead of winter in which temperatures reach between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius below zero," Dujarric said.

Dujarric said that the urgent need in resources also comes amid the financial gap that the UN humanitarian response plan is currently experiencing. The plan requires $162 million for assistance in Ukraine in 2019, and, now, it is only 32% funded.

The spokesman explained that the funds are aimed to be spent on demining activities in areas, contaminated by explosives, with the total population of two million people, and the action should be undertaken before the land gets covered in snow.

Additionally, Dujarric said, if the funding is received, some 80,000 people living within five kilometers of the contact line in Eastern Ukraine will be provided with access to health care through mobile medical teams and cash resources for transportation to health facilities.

Since April 2014, the Ukrainian government has been conducting a military operation against the self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which declared their independence after a power change in Kiev that occurred a few months prior. Prospects for peace have been discussed in various forms, including the so-called Normandy format. However, the only tangible agreements were achieved during the meeting of the Minsk contact group, under the mediation of Russia and the OSCE. Nevertheless, fighting in the region continues.