United Nations seeks additional US$5.6 billion in aid for Ukraine

With Russian President Vladimir Putin's brutish invasion of Ukraine nearing a grim first anniversary, the cost in lives, money and lost opportunity continues to mount.

The United Nations appealed for US$5.6 billion on Wednesday to help the millions of people suffering and displaced by the war. Since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, there have been 18,955 civilian casualties recorded in Ukraine – including 7,199 killed and 11,756 injured – but the actual numbers are likely far higher.

U.N. emergency relief coordinator Martin Griffiths and U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi launched the appeal in Geneva.

“Almost a year on, the war continues to cause death, destruction, and displacement daily, and on a staggering scale,” Griffiths told a press conference. “There are nearly 18 million people in need – 18 million out of a 43 million pre-war population, now down to much less, 36 million still living in Ukraine."

The U.N.'s Humanitarian Response Plan seeks US$3.9 billion to help more than 11 million people in Ukraine with food, health care, cash and other life-saving assistance. Its Refugee Response Plan calls for US$1.7 billion to help some 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees and the communities and countries that host them.

"We will continue to prioritize assistance to people who need it most and to support local authorities and civil-society organizations, whose dedication has been inspiring," said Griffiths, who heads the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.

"We must do all we can to reach the hardest-to-reach communities, including those close to the front line," he added. "The suffering of the Ukrainian people is far from over – they continue to need international support."

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Griffiths said that U.N. aid coordinators were working to send supply convoys to the Ukrainian side of the war's front lines to assist the people under attack.

"I think that's an extraordinary testimony to the resilience and courage of those working in Ukraine," he said.

Misery 'day in and day out'

Grandi, who heads the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, praised the response among refugee host countries to the Ukraine emergency, particularly by local nongovernmental organizations and refugee-led and community-based organizations.

“Europe has proven capable of bold, collective action to help refugees," said Grandi.

“Refugees have not only been welcomed, but temporary protection arrangements have provided refugees with the right to work, access services and to be included in national systems," he said. "We must not, however, take this response, or the hospitality of host communities, for granted."

Griffiths said U.N. staff in Dnipro, Ukraine traveled some 200 kilometers in a six-truck convoy Tuesday to deliver aid to two villages in the Donetsk region that is "a very hot area of war at the moment."

"People there are under daily shelling attacks, homes being bombed, freezing cold, electricity problems. And our colleagues drove as close to the front line as they could" to bring medicine, heaters, food and blankets to 1,200 people, he said.

"That's something that goes on day in and day out in Ukraine as a result of this terrible war," he said.

In Ukraine, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated rapidly since the Russian invasion escalated eight years of conflict in the east into a full-scale war. The resulting destruction and devastation have been staggering.

The United Nations reports that about 40% of the population of Ukraine is in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. Putin's invasion also forced many to flee, resulting in a humanitarian crisis of a scale not witnessed in Europe for decades.

"The resilience of the Ukrainian people desperately seeking to return to their homes, to start their jobs, to send their children to schools, is something that we want to support in these appeals," Griffiths said, adding that a 2022 "flash appeal" for US$3.4 billion was 80% funded.

In the United States, President Joe Biden says he is committed to providing aid Ukraine "for as long as it takes" but a new Associated Press poll finds American's support for providing weapons and economic aid to Ukraine is starting to soften.

Last May, about three months into the war, 60% of those surveyed favored sending weapons to Ukraine. That number has now faded to 48%, with 29% of the American public saying they are opposed, The AP reports.