Aid groups facing huge obstacles
Ukraine and the humanitarian organisations working there have received an outpouring of international support, including donations of cash and critical supplies. But Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and key supply routes – as well as the sheer scale of the humanitarian need – are hindering the ability of international organisations to do their work as the crisis grows more dire each day.
‘‘It’s just incredibly difficult to deliver any kind of response safely when the fighting is as horrendous and constant,’’ said Dan Stewart, a spokesman for Save the Children.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine lack food, water, heat, electricity and medical care, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Temperatures dip below freezing at night, and Save the Children has received reports of children becoming ill from the cold. In Mariupol, a besieged city in Ukraine’s southeast, locals are reportedly melting snow to drink.
Ukrainian authorities have accused Russia of shelling humanitarian corridors, in violation of temporary ceasefire agreements. Russian attacks have destroyed vital infrastructure, and the port of Odessa – where almost all of Ukraine’s imports by
sea arrive – is closed.
The Kyiv City Charity Foundation Food Bank, which has distributed food to people in need in Ukraine’s capital since 2011, had been ‘‘operating more actively than ever’’, with an ‘‘army’’ of volunteers distributing food even under Russian fire, said Nataliia Radetska, the foodbank’s deputy board head.
It had been short on food since Ukrainian factories halted operations, she said. ‘‘That’s why food aid from abroad is so important for us.’’
International organisations such as Save the Children and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are hiring more staff and diverting resources to Ukraine and neighbouring countries. Events were changing so rapidly, though, that it could be difficult to anticipate where supplies would be needed, Stewart said.
Some aid organisations were able to stockpile supplies in Ukrainian towns before Russian troops and missiles arrive. ‘‘We’re really in a race against time to preposition food in areas where fighting is expected to flare up,’’ said Steve Taravella, senior spokesman for the WFP.
The organisation planned to assist more than 3 million people inside and outside Ukraine in the coming months, he said, supplying and organising humanitarian convoys into conflict areas.
The WFP was also establishing hubs in Poland to deliver food into Ukraine, Taravella said. But ‘‘where possible, we’re trying to purchase food from within Ukraine, which will help keep their economy going’’.
The WFP has begun distributing bread in several cities, including Kharkiv, and had dispatched emergency food assistance to Kyiv. But Taravella said these were Band-Aid solutions.
With able-bodied Ukrainian men joining the fight, finding drivers to move supplies had proved challenging, said David Beasley, executive director of the WFP.
The ICRC is also building up its supply routes to bring medical aid, food, water and hygiene items into Ukraine, and has partnered with Doctors Without Borders.
The Ukrainian government collected and delivered more than 400 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies – mostly from European donor countries and UN agencies – during the first 11 days of the war, according to the health ministry. Still, vast needs remain – as do challenges in delivering aid to civilians bearing the brunt of the Russian attacks.
Materials to treat traumatic injuries were in high demand, said Tim Shenk, a spokesman for Doctors Without Borders. Carla Melki, the organisation’s emergency coordinator in Odessa, said drugs and items for treating chronic illnesses were also in short supply across Ukraine.
The Ukrainian health ministry has set up a hotline and a Google form to collect donations.
The Red Cross delivered medical supplies to health facilities and food, water and hygiene items to shelters in Mariupol last week, said Jason Straziuso, an ICRC spokesman. ‘‘But we haven’t been able to bring in new supplies since. So we’ve been calling on all sides to allow humanitarian organisations like ours to be able to safely carry out a resupply.’’
Some aid groups say the dangers in Mariupol and other frontline cities are too great for staff to deliver aid.
Observers expect the humanitarian situation to worsen as the conflict grinds on and Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to resort increasingly to deadlier tactics. ‘‘The only way to really guarantee full humanitarian access and aid delivery would be complete cessation of hostilities,’’ said Stewart.