The European Commission announced on Thursday 16 April that the EU is going to mobilise €13 million in humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable populations affected by the six-year conflict in Eastern Ukraine.
The emergency assistance will help refurbish buildings damaged by bombing, including schools and health facilities, and will fund access to basic services such as education and drinking water.
In a statement, Janez Lenarčič, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management, said that “access to such services is even more important in the face of the coronavirus outbreak. The EU supports people in need on both sides of the contact line”.
3.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. EU aid is channelled through the partner organisations of ECHO (the Commission's humanitarian assistance department) in the field: UN agencies, NGOs and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Bombing continues to hamper the provision of essential services, such as water and electricity, on both sides of the contact line, and the coronavirus outbreak is restricting humanitarian access even more. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)