Less Than 20% of $316 Mln Needed to Aid Eastern Ukraine - UN

The UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that only 18% of the $316 million the United Nations said is required for humanitarian operations in conflict-torn Eastern Ukraine in 2015 have been funded or even pledged.

UNITED NATIONS, April 8 (Sputnik) — Only 18% of the $316 million the United Nations said is required for humanitarian operations in conflict-torn Eastern Ukraine in 2015 have been funded or even pledged, the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday.

“Despite great needs, funding for humanitarian operations remains very low with only 18% of the $316 million required for 2015 having been funded or even pledged so far,” Dujarric said.

The UN spokesman added that he had no announcement about any pledging conference for Eastern Ukraine, of the type recently held in Kuwait for Syria, stressing that “we should not have to wait for pledging conferences for donors to commit to these appeals.”

According to Dujarric, the access to health and educational services remains a major concern for 1.2 million displaced people in Ukraine.

“The pressure on schools to accommodate displaced children is increasing because of limited number of available teachers and premises,” the UN spokesperson added.

A military conflict begun in April 2014 between Kiev forces and independence supporters of the Donbass region has led to a severe humanitarian crisis.

According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR as of beginning of April the total number of Ukrainians seeking any forms of legal stay in neighbouring countries, mainly in Russia, has reached 770,000.

Since August 2014 Russia has send more than 25,000 metric tons of aid to the people of the region.