The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned on Thursday that the international organization does not have the funds needed to help Ukrainians this winter.
“The level of funding for organizations like ours is very low for this time of year,” said Carolina Lindholm Billing, the organization’s representative in Ukraine.
The agency currently has only 47 percent of the funds it needs to help millions of Ukrainians displaced or affected by the war in their country, she added. At the same time last year, the agency was 70 percent funded.
Ukraine currently has about 3.6 million displaced people, but the Russian army’s advance in the Donbas region (east) and the increase in Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure and cities are causing new population displacements, Lindholm-Billing added.
She stressed that “about 99,000 people, for example, have been evacuated from villages located on the front line in the Donetsk region since August 1.”
In Ukraine, UNHCR is helping local organizations to host these displaced people and is also helping the most vulnerable people, especially as winter approaches. Its representative in Kyiv explained that the organization is providing, for example, financial assistance to these people so that they can buy winter clothes, firewood or “heat packs” that allow them to better insulate their homes.
She said that about 650,000 people are concerned by this assistance, warning that “if we can get the money we need, I am confident that we will be able to help them,” otherwise it will not be possible.
Lindholm Billing explained that since this summer, UNHCR has also noticed an increase in the number of Ukrainians fleeing their country, citing power outages as one of the main reasons for their departure.
Previously, no one mentioned this reason, but since June, 25% of people interviewed at the border cited power outages as the second reason, after security, for their decision to leave. That figure rose to 49% in July before falling to 28% in August, she said.
She warned that a sharp increase in Russian strikes on energy facilities in Ukraine and a harsh winter could cause an increase in the number of departures.
“It is therefore imperative that Ukraine receives the support it needs to repair its energy facilities,” she continued.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed during her visit to Kyiv last Friday that the EU will help Ukraine “repair” the damage caused by Russian strikes and will export electricity to the country. Von der Leyen said the support is supposed to cover “25%” of Ukraine’s needs during the winter.
#warns #Ukraine #winter