Skip to main content

Humanitarians deliver supplies to nearly 64,000 people in Donetska Oblast

Countries
Ukraine
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

Food, water purification tablets, hygiene and other critical household items were delivered by UN agencies and NGOs in war-affected Kramatorsk and Sloviansk

(Kyiv, 21 June 2022) The United Nations and its humanitarian partners delivered yesterday 12 trucks of critical relief supplies for nearly 64,000 people in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, in the Government-controlled areas of the eastern Donetska oblast. Months of escalating and intense fighting in Ukraine is taking an enormous toll on civilians and over 2.2 million people in Donetska oblast alone need life-saving assistance.

The situation in Sloviansk, formerly home to 100,000 people, is particularly concerning.
Hostilities have damaged the water system, leaving the 25,000 people who remain in the city— mainly the elderly and the most vulnerable—without piped water. Electricity is limited and basic supplies are lacking in the few shops still working, with increasing prices further impacting people’s access to food and other vital items. “The city is only 10 km away from the front line, and has experienced intense shelling over the past weeks. Almost nobody goes to the street. They spend their days hiding from the constant bombardment, without access to basic services,” explained the Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Osnat Lubrani.

In Sloviansk, humanitarians delivered water purification tablets and vital hygiene supplies to cover the needs of 20,000 people, critical household items to around 2,000 people and enough food to feed around 5,000 people for a month. In Kramatorsk, approximately 37,850 people—out of nearly 78,000 who remain in the city—will receive critical assistance, including kits to purify water and hygiene supplies for more than 20,000 people and food assistance for at least 10,000 women, men, girls and boys.

This humanitarian convoy—coordinated by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which notified both parties to the conflict to guarantee the safety of the operation—was possible thanks to the support of the international community to UN agencies and NGOs working to support people whose lives have been overturned by the war.

Across the country, more than 300 humanitarian organizations—two-thirds of them national NGOs—have provided over 8.8 million people with the life-saving assistance. However, the war has left almost 16 million people in Ukraine in need of humanitarian aid. “We have consistently and insistently engaged the parties to the conflict to make sure we can support people in Ukraine, wherever they are. Yet, we have been prevented from reaching areas where we know people need support now, including Mariupol, Kherson, and most recently Sievierodonetsk. We call on the parties to the conflict to facilitate safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all regions of Ukraine, so we can expand relief operations even further and support people who have now suffered with these four months of war,” concluded Ms. Lubrani.

Note to editors:

Yesterday’s convoy had supplies provided by:

  • International Organization for Migration (IOM)

  • UN High Commission for Refugees (UNCHR)

  • UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

  • World Food Program (WFP)

  • Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

  • People in Need

  • Save the Children

For further information, please contact OCHA Ukraine:

Saviano Abreu, +380 504 223 943, deabreuisidoro@un.org

Viktoriya Hrubas, +380 50 382 4541, viktoriya.hrubas@un.org

OCHA press releases are available at www.unocha.org or www.reliefweb.int.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.