According to the Red Cross, around 3.5 million people live in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine alone. “Tens of thousands have already had to leave their homes and the number is constantly increasing. One million people have no water supply following the destruction of two pumping stations in Donetsk,” said Red Cross Secretary General Michael Opriesnig.
“Large escape movements” expected
“The Red Cross calls on all parties to the conflict to protect civilian infrastructure and civilians, as required by international law. Even in conflict there are rules. Even then, there must be access to humanitarian care. The Red Cross and all its actors are preparing to expand their commitment in the crisis,” announced Opriesnig. “We currently have to assume that there will be large numbers of people fleeing and expect a great need for help.”
The situation is currently unclear. If possible, the aid projects supported by the Austrian Red Cross and the Austrian Development Cooperation Agency (ADA) to care for older people along the contact line in eastern Ukraine should continue, Opriesnig confirmed: “If it is not possible to maintain daily basic care there, serious humanitarian consequences are to be expected.”
Cold, pandemic and chaos of war
Irrespective of current developments, hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Ukraine are already struggling to survive the winter in good health. “Mines and duds are slumbering in the ground along the contact line. The electricity keeps failing and the food supply is poor.
This conflict, which has claimed thousands of lives, has been smoldering for almost eight years. 800 missing persons are still registered with the Red Cross. The cold, the corona pandemic and the constant uncertainty regarding how things will continue make everyday life torture for people,” said Opriesnig.
Medical help for population
MSF Executive Director Laura Leyser said: “Given the current events in Ukraine, we are extremely concerned regarding the impact of the fighting on the population and health care. Access to medical help must be guaranteed as a matter of urgency.” The organization has been active in several parts of Ukraine for years and provides help to the population.
In this way, the teams of the aid organization enable the inhabitants of villages and towns close to the frontline to access medical help. To do this, they work together with volunteers in villages, support doctors and nursing staff in outpatient clinics and health centers and also train them in psychological help. In Luhansk, Médecins Sans Frontières runs an aid program for people affected by HIV and a program once morest tuberculosis in north-western Ukraine. MSF also implements several aid programs in neighboring countries, including Russia.
Leyser: “Our teams on the ground are ready to provide humanitarian aid and to increase aid, including those in Russia. It is essential that access to health care is guaranteed and that medical facilities are protected in accordance with international law.”
“Oppose Solidarity”
With its project partners in the neighboring countries of Poland, Hungary and Moldova, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe is starting emergency aid for war refugees from Ukraine, as the aid organization announced in a broadcast. “A war in the middle of Europe terrifies us. We must counteract the terror with solidarity with the people whose lives are being threatened and whose existence is being destroyed by this war,” appealed Diakonie director Maria Katharina Moser.
The Diakonie underlines the importance of Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s (ÖVP) commitment to Austria’s humanitarian tradition and to taking in war refugees from the Ukraine in Austria as well. “Now it is crucial to prepare quickly for an orderly admission,” says Moser. The refugee service of the Diakonie is ready to cooperate with the federal and state governments. The Diakonie also shared the call to prayer for peace that the Evangelical Bishop Michael Chalupka had started.
call for donations
SOS Children’s Villages announced on its website that the families are being evacuated from the SOS Children’s Village in Luhansk. They would be accommodated in the SOS Children’s Village Brovary near Kiev. The office in Luhansk and the attached social center were closed, and the team was relocated to Sieverodonetsk. According to SOS Children’s Villages, it has been active in Ukraine for more than 20 years and also called for donations.
Volkshilfe also asked for donations: according to its own statements, it has been working in Ukraine for 16 years. “Together with the partner organization ‘Narodna Dopomoha’ we have so far supported thousands of people fleeing,” said one
