The United Nations (UN) and its partners appealed for a combined $4.2 billion from donors to support war-ravaged communities in Ukraine as well as refugees during 2024.
“Hundreds of thousands of children live in communities on the front lines of the war, terrified, traumatized, and deprived of their basic needs,” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths highlighted.
Griffiths added: “That fact alone should compel us to do everything we can to bring more humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.”
In line with the appeal, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is asking for $3.1 billion to help 8.5 million people in dire need of humanitarian aid in 2024.
The U.N. refugee agency is seeking $1.1 billion to support 2.3 million Ukrainian refugees and their host communities.
The OCHA underlined that the war forced about 6.3 million Ukrainians to find refuge abroad, and as of the end of last year, 5.9 million refugees from Ukraine were recorded in Europe.
“In front-line towns and villages, people have exhausted their meager resources and rely on aid to survive,” the statement read
“In the Donetsk and Kharkiv Regions, families shelter in damaged houses with no piped water, gas, or electricity. Constant bombardments force people to spend their days in basements,” it added.