UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS
By Beyza Binnur Donmez
GENEVA (AA) – The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), along with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), appealed for a total of $4.2 billion to support 10.8 million people in Ukraine, including 2.3 million refugees, throughout 2024.
Martin Griffiths, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told a joint press briefing in Geneva that 14.6 million people need humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, a "staggering" 40% of the population.
Coordinating the response inside Ukraine, OCHA requests $3.1 billion for 2024 and targets 8.5 million people, Griffiths said.
He noted that the budget was reduced from last year's appeal of $3.9 billion and said that it was 67% funded, calling the "best level of funding" in the world last year.
OCHA is "trying to keep the numbers down so that we can make sure we get as much as we can prioritize people," he said. "We have to improve on the percentage, but Ukraine has been relatively well funded."
"No place in Ukraine is untouched by the war and the wave of attacks that began ... the devastating civilian cost of the war. Add to that the harsh winter which is sweeping across Ukraine and ratcheting up people's need for life-saving support, heating, proper shelter, warmer clothes, and a sufficient calorie intake," the relief chief said.
Griffiths drew attention to those living in small towns and villages on the front lines, saying people have exhausted their own meager resources and rely on aid coming in through convoys of UN partners to survive.
In Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, families live in damaged houses with no pipe water, gas, or electricity in the freezing cold. They are trapped indoors with many children with no schooling, he said.
- UN refugee agency to back 2.3M Ukrainians in 11 host countries
Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, stressed that some 6.3 million people have fled the country and remain refugees, mostly across Europe.
UNHCR coordinates the Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) and requests $1.1 billion, targeting 2.3 million refugees and host communities, Grandi said.
He noted that the appeal is covering refugees in 11 countries.
According to the high commissioner for refugees, Moldova is still a "big priority." Grandi added that he will travel to Moldova this week and then he will visit Ukraine for a few days.
In total, the two highly prioritized UN plans aim to support some 10.8 million people in Ukraine and the region.
Russia's war on Ukraine is set to enter its third year in February.
- Ongoing exports by Russia, Ukraine 'precarious'
Griffiths said that exports are continuing by both Ukraine and Russia though the Black Sea Grain Initiative came to a halt last July, calling it a "rare piece of good news."
He noted that up to 7.5 million tons of material was exported in the course of the last many months via alternative lanes, adding that the western edge of the Black Sea has been working "quite well."
"But it's precarious, it's tenuous," he stressed. "I believe personally, that we need to talk to both sides about how to make those exports safe. And of course, we are in constant contact with Türkiye on this who have their lead role in the Black Sea."
Last July, Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, saying that the Russian part of the agreement had not been implemented. It sought the loosening of banking restrictions and the ability to ship its own fertilizer before returning to the deal.
The agreement, initially signed in July in 2022 in Istanbul by Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine, was aimed at resuming grain exports from Ukrainian ports halted due to the war, which began in February 2022.
- Competition for funding
Griffiths said that the competition for funding is going to be "more difficult" than in 2023 as Gaza and Ukraine are places where the world's interests mainly are, preventing crises like Sudan from making the headlines.
"We never talk about Sudan, which has probably the greatest suffering that you see and … which is down around 37% funded," he said.
"It so hard (for Sudan) to get onto the screens and to the attention of people precisely because of the competition of places like Gaza now and Ukraine," he stated, adding that world interest in these countries makes all the difference.
Sudan has been mired by fighting between the army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the country’s ruling Sovereign Council, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.
Several cease-fire agreements brokered by Saudi and US mediators have failed to end the violence.