MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Development expressed concern about the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and the funds required to tackle it on Wednesday 20 April, amid the Russian offensive in the Donbass.
They called for the establishment of humanitarian corridors and increased aid from the international community, based on the testimonies of a Ukrainian MP, a Czech NGO and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Earlier in the day, Kyiv announced a preliminary agreement with Russia on the first humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol, according to AFP.
Referring to more than 1,000 schools damaged and 95 completely destroyed, 300 medical centres damaged, including 21 destroyed, 230 cultural sites destroyed or severely damaged, 578 child victims including 205 killed and 373 injured, the Chair of the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine, Mykyta Poturayev, said: “Ukraine cannot be asked to make efforts in relation to Russia because of the risk of global famine. No, we are not responsible for a risk of global famine. All must put pressure on the Russian Federation, not on Ukraine”.
Call for help to ‘win the war’. According to this Ukrainian parliamentarian, “the most important thing is to help Ukraine win this war, because only our victory can bring the solution to all these problems”.
Committee Chair Tomas Tobé (EPP, Sweden), deploring “a catastrophic situation, violations of humanitarian law and crimes committed by Russian troops”, assured him of his support, saying that “no one in the European Parliament will tell you: Ukraine must be in a hurry to accept the conditions imposed by Russia at this stage”. He also stressed the need to improve the humanitarian situation.
The humanitarian needs are enormous and cash is needed throughout the country to support the displaced, said Alexandra Boivin of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Stressing the neutrality of the ICRC, imposed by the Geneva Convention, she said: “We maintain dialogue with the parties to the conflict so that we can do our job and encourage respect for international humanitarian law”. Getting agreement between the parties on these humanitarian corridors is extremely difficult, she acknowledged.
Asked by Ireland’s Barry Andrews (Renew Europe) whether the ICRC office in Rostov would be able to provide evidence of the ‘500,000 deported from Ukraine to Russia without their consent’ referred to by Mr Poturayev, she could “neither confirm nor deny” the facts.
For Marek Stys, from the Czech NGO People in Need, which has been present in Donbass since 2014, “preparing for the next winter is the priority”. He also cited the critical need for water supplies in urban areas and mental health care, as well as the need to work on “the establishment of green corridors to ensure safe and voluntary evacuations”.
Noting that his NGO also delivers arms to Ukraine from Prague, he spoke of the difficulty of getting his staff and humanitarian goods to Ukraine safely - two trains have been confiscated. Discussions are underway on the distinction between military and humanitarian aid.
More funds. Karsten Lucke (S&D, Germany) was alarmed at the depletion of resources in the EU budget, asking whether a donors’ conference should not be convened to cover the growing needs.
The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) said it was “providing vital assistance in the besieged areas, especially in the East, where the situation is the most serious”, that it had pledged one billion euros to help Ukrainians inside and outside the country, and that the United Nations was expected to launch its revised flash humanitarian appeal for 2.07 billion euros for the period June to August on Thursday.
For comparison, ECHO’s budget is 1.7 billion euros for all crises worldwide and the 2014-2021 aid budget for Ukraine was 25 million euros per year. “We are already at 143 million euros, including 13 million for Moldova (see EUROPE 12934/5) and we will try to increase these funds further. I expect the donor community will step up”, she said. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)