The EU is to provide further humanitarian aid of €24 million to help the victims of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Commissioner Christos Stylianides said on Wednesday 28 February.
The announcement was made at the opening of a high-level conference in Brussels on the “forgotten humanitarian crisis after 4 years of conflict”, organised by the European Commission and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The new emergency aid will help address basic needs –food, healthcare and education for the children – of the most vulnerable populations along the contact line including in non-government controlled areas. It will also help those who have fled the conflict areas to neighbouring countries.
The aid, from the budget of the EU’s humanitarian aid and civil protection service ECHO, will be delivered by ECHO’s partners on the ground. With this new funding, the EU will have provided over €677 million for the people of Eastern Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict in 2014. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)