UN representative: Pandemic complicates humanitarian aid deliveries to CADLR

During the COVID-19 quarantine period, bureaucratic procedures have become more complicated when organizing the delivery of humanitarian goods to certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (CADLR).

"We are a humanitarian organization, we work with migrants, refugees from other countries, stateless persons. This is our niche around the world. Therefore, we work on both sides of the line of contact," Giorgi Sanikidze, Head of UNHCR Sub Office in Sloviansk, said in a commentary to Dom TV channel.

According to him, the UNHCR transports humanitarian goods (medicines, building materials, etc.) from the government-controlled territory of Ukraine to Donetsk and Luhansk.

"Mostly, we have been transporting humanitarian goods through the ‘Stanytsia Luhanska’ border crossing point. This is a very difficult process because there is only a pedestrian crossing there, cars are not allowed. Therefore, cargo must be carried by hands. In addition, the first convoy was made through the ‘Shchastia’ border crossing point. In Donetsk region, we use the ‘Novotroitske’ border crossing point. We form a convoy and then decide through which checkpoint we will transport it," Sanikidze said.

He stressed that the process of delivering humanitarian aid had become more complicated during the pandemic.

"The pandemic has made this work very difficult on both sides. I do not want to make a unilateral statement, but there are bureaucratic obstacles on both sides, a lot of work with documents," the Head of UNHCR Sub Office in Sloviansk noted.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, works in eastern Ukraine on both sides of the line of contact. In the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government, offices are located in Severodonetsk, Sloviansk and Mariupol; in the temporarily occupied territory – in Donetsk and Luhansk.

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