Kyiv, March 3, 2015. Caritas Ukraine international charity starts a new humanitarian program to cover basic needs of those affected by fighting in eastern Ukraine. Andriy Vaskovych, President of Caritas Ukraine, announced the news at a briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center. Mr. Vaskovych said that the aid be delivered to the internally displaced persons who moved to Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kramatorsk, Odesa and Kyiv. The charity also plans to create a mobile group to help people living in the combat zone. “The Government of Germany has provided financial assistance worth 2 million euro, which enables us to help nearly 23 thousand people. These funds include financial resources to such basic needs as the costs of accommodation, food, clothes, medical assistance as well as psychological and legal assistance,” Andriy Vaskovych noted.
Hryhoriy Seleshchuk, Project Coordinator at Caritas Ukraine, explained that the project is going to focus on 9,000 people who have just left the embattled territories and arrived with almost nothing. “The amount of aid depends on the number of family members. A family of three is entitled to a one-time payment in the amount of 2,400 hryvnias in average,” said Hryhoriy Seleshchuk. He also noted that the aid will be distributed among socially vulnerable groups, including families with many children, disabled, elderly, pregnant women etc. Special food sets will be delivered to these groups people as well. “The value of a single kit is around 800 hryvnias, which a wide range of products,” he noted.
Caritas Ukraine started helping the IDPs in May 2014, covering nine regions. The foundation has helped over 50,000 of those affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine; many of those are children. Nearly 60-80% of them have witnessed violence and need long-term psychological rehabilitation.
