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Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis: Singapore Red Cross Sends 3rd Tranche of Aid; 2-Person Team Arrives in Europe

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Singapore Red Cross
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  • SRC commits to another S$1,120,000 in aid, focused on medical and first aid supplies
  • SRC to further support the work of Ukrainian Red Cross in assisting devastated communities
  • 2-person SRC Team arrives in Europe today, to oversee relief efforts supported by SRC

5 April 2022 - In its third tranche of humanitarian aid to support Ukrainian refugees, the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) has committed another S$1.12 million in medical and first aid kits, medical equipment and medicines for rare diseases, hygiene and essentials. Meanwhile, SRC has deployed a two-person team on a mission to Ukraine's neighbouring countries that are hosting the majority of the refugees, including Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia, to oversee the humanitarian response and aid distribution contributed by the People of Singapore to SRC's humanitarian response to Ukraine, and to explore opportunities to expand our operations. The team arrived in Hungary yesterday, and will be working closely with humanitarian partners on the ground to support the fast-growing refugee crisis.

Following the devastation of the Ukrainian communities, the need for humanitarian support within Ukraine has increased tremendously, and the Ukrainian Red Cross has scaled up its response under very challenging circumstances. SRC has therefore committed another tranche of USD 100,000 to the Ukrainian Red Cross, to support its response to the affected communities, including the distribution of medicines, first aid kits, food, hygiene products etc.

“The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is catastrophic and continues to grow. Our latest tranche of aid reflects our utmost priority, which is to help the most vulnerable persons, including children and youth, women with infants and young children, the elderly, patients with rare diseases and persons with disabilities. Besides supporting the provision of immediate relief aid, we will continue to focus on addressing basic needs, emergency shelter, protection, health, water, sanitation, hygiene, and psychosocial support,” said Mr Benjamin William, Secretary General / CEO of the Singapore Red Cross.

The SRC is also in close contact with the Ukrainian Club in Singapore, Ukrainians living in Singapore, as well as Singaporeans living in and around Ukraine, to facilitate SRC's work on-the-ground. The Singapore Red Cross and Ukrainian Club is working in collaboration to deliver up to 3,000 medical kits to Ukrainian cities from the borders in Poland.

“The Ukrainian Club is glad to be able to work with the Singapore Red Cross to deliver humanitarian assistance to those in need in Ukraine and the neighbouring countries. This project to deliver medical kits is timely given the huge number of injured civilians requiring urgent medical attention. We hope to continue to collaborate with SRC to facilitate these critical humanitarian response efforts,” said Dr Galyna Kogut, President of the Ukrainian Club Singapore.

The latest disbursement follows SRC’s first tranche of aid worth US$100,000, which arrived in Ukraine on 4 March, and was distributed by the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) as part of their ongoing response; and its second, worth S$2.4 million on 10 March, to assist Ukrainians in-country and across six neighbouring countries - Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania. This brings the total disbursement to S$3.66 million. (Details in Annex).

At least 80 individuals and groups have stepped forward to fundraise for, and support the SRC’s public fundraising appeal, in aid of affected communities in and around Ukraine. To date, more than S$6 million has been raised, within five weeks from the start of the appeal on 25 February.

The Red Cross Movement continues to play an important and active role in and around Ukraine. The Ukrainian Red Cross Society has provided assistance to over 400,000 people in March, and continues to run its operations in-country to assist the vulnerable. The Red Cross is supporting three logistics pipelines into Ukraine at Lviv, Uzhhorod, and Chernivtsi and providing emergency surge support in technical areas. Medical supplies, food and relief items are continually deployed into the country across various locations, to respond to skyrocketing humanitarian needs. The Red Cross presence and humanitarian work in crisis situations are targeted at assisting and protecting civilians, medics, aid workers, casualties, and prisoners of war, regardless of race, language, religion, nationality and warring factions. Neutral and impartial humanitarian action must be respected.

The Singapore Red Cross has also activated its “Restoring Family Links” (RFL) service to assist Singapore residents to locate their immediate family members who may have been affected by the disasters with whom they have difficulty in contacting.