The European Commission Wednesday announced an increase in its humanitarian assistance and recovery aid to 32 million euro to meet the immediate needs of vulnerable and conflict-affected populations in Eastern Ukraine.
EU High Representative Federica Mogherini in a statement said "the EU is ready to increase its support for the population affected by the conflict as part of its overall support for Ukraine." "And we must not forget host communities, who are demonstrating a huge amount of solidarity towards Internally Displaced Persons. Confidence-building measures between these two groups are important to strengthen Ukrainian society as a whole," she said.
This assistance will address the most acute needs through the provision of shelter, food and non-food assistance, health services and protection.
Despite the 5 September ceasefire, continued fighting in some parts of Donetsk and Luhansk has led to a large-scale population displacement inside the country and beyond its borders.
More than 440,000 people are registered as internally displaced, and some 488 000 fled to neighbouring countries. Serious violations of the cease-fire declared in September are reported daily and shelling has even intensified in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which further aggravates the crisis, noted the statement.