EU hosts high-level meeting on Ukraine to address the humanitarian response

Today, the EU hosted the Fourth Humanitarian Senior Officials Meeting in Brussels to take stock of the most pressing humanitarian challenges in war-torn Ukraine.

The meeting was opened by Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Area, Iryna Vereshchuk.

This high-level meeting brought together key humanitarian actors and donors, but also local Ukrainian institutions, to assess how to ensure effective aid delivery in the given circumstances. Among the challenges discussed was the funding for the current year as well as how to best work with local humanitarian responders.

The participants also addressed more sustainable solutions needed for communities affected to progressively transition away from relief aid.

Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said “At a time when the war in Ukraine is fading from the headlines, international community must step up and ensure that the people of Ukraine will not be forgotten. Russia’s brutal aggression continues to destroy lives every single day. As humanitarians we must insist on protection and provide the life-saving support to the millions of Ukrainians in dire need of aid. While transitioning to recovery and reconstruction is crucial for rebuilding Ukraine, we cannot ignore the immediate critical humanitarian needs on the ground today.”

Since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the European Commission has allocated €860 million for humanitarian aid programmes in Ukraine, and €66 million to support refugees who have fled to neighbouring Moldova. In addition, more than 146,000 tonnes of in-kind assistance has been sent to Ukraine via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, including medical supplies, mobile hospitals, shelters, vehicles, school buses, firefighting equipment, and much more.