UN calls on donors to allocate $52 mln to Donbas ahead of winter

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, stated this at a press briefing on September 17, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"In Ukraine, the UN and our humanitarian partners are urgently calling for $52 million to address the most acute and time-critical humanitarian needs ahead of winter in which temperatures reach between ‑15 and ‑20°C," Dujarric said in a statement.

He added that "the funding drive comes as the UN-coordinated Humanitarian Response Plan for 2019, launched at the beginning of the year and requiring $162 million, is only 32 per cent funded so far."

"Nearly $16 million of the funding required is for protection, including for mine‑risk education, victim assistance, marking of mined areas and demining before areas get covered in snow," he said.

The spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General recalled that about 2 million people lived in areas under Government control, contaminated by landmines and explosives.

"The funding will also give 80,000 people living within 5 kilometres of the “contact line” in eastern Ukraine access to health care through mobile medical teams or by giving them cash for transportation to health centres," Dujarric summed up.

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