The United Nations on Monday announced a significant increase in its emergency appeal for Ukraine, estimating needs at $4.3 billion between March and the end of the year.
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“Financial needs have risen from 2.25 billion (estimated in April, editor’s note) to 4.3 billion,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, during a press conference.
The April fundraiser ran from March to August but was extended to the end of the year “due to the worsening of the situation” and the onset of cold weather, he noted.
“More than a quarter of Ukraine’s population, 17.7 million men, women and children, will need humanitarian assistance in the coming months, about 2 million more than estimated in April,” he stressed.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 11.7 million people in Ukraine received at least one humanitarian aid between the end of February and the end of July. And after five months of war, “need continues to grow,” he estimates in his needs assessment report published on Monday.
“Millions of people across the country have endured months of intense hostilities without adequate access to food, water, health care, education and other basic services,” he added.
Since the UN’s first emergency call, $2.38 billion has already been raised, an “unprecedented” support, commented Stéphane Dujarric.
This new appeal for donations, which runs until December, is basically the last one. But “in the coming winter the situation could deteriorate further,” he noted.