PRESS RELEASE : Humanitarian center set up by President reports on results of work

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 16 April 2022.

The Coordination Center for Humanitarian and Social Affairs established by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, headed by the Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak, has reported on the results of its activities.

According to Yermak, the amount of charitable assistance received for Ukraine from citizens and corporations from around the world has now reached almost $924 million, and funds continue to flow.

“They go mainly to the accounts of the UN and international humanitarian organizations. And they, in turn, send them to help our refugees in different countries,” the head of the President’s Office said.

Most funds came from philanthropists from the United Kingdom (47%), the Netherlands (almost 18%), the Czech Republic (11%) and the United States (almost 8%).

Yermak stressed that Ukraine is grateful for the help of both world celebrities and all concerned citizens from different countries.

In particular, he said that the UK under the auspices of the Disasters Emergency Committee raised more than GBP 310 million. Queen Elizabeth II, the British government, film, theater and music stars have made their contributions. Famous Hollywood actress Mila Kunis, who was born in Chernivtsi, and her husband, actor Ashton Kutcher, raised $35 million in the United States. They sent these funds to the Flexport logistics startup and Airbnb technology company. In France, EUR 8 million were raised by local television thanks to a charity concert of French stars. The First Lady of France, Brigitte Macron, also joined – she donated EUR 1 million.

Deputy Head of the Office of the President Yulia Sokolovska said that 270,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid had been imported to Ukraine in 50 days. Food was purchased from Ukrainian producers and meal kits were made for almost 10 million Ukrainians.

The SpivDiia information resource processes applications from the hotline to meet the specific needs of citizens. More than 48,000 applications have already been processed, Sokolovska said.

According to First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko, logistics centers have been set up on the western border with Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova and Slovakia in the first week, where international donors and partners send humanitarian aid.

Lviv region has become the largest hub of humanitarian support in Ukraine, receiving 51% of cargo from abroad.

Among the humanitarian hubs located across the country, the cargo is distributed among regional military administrations, charities, local governments, NGOs and volunteers, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.

According to him, during the 50 days of the war, the whole country was united, and each non-frontline region helps the frontline region every day.

In addition, as Tymoshenko said, with the help of the convenient platform help.gov.ua people from all over the world fill out questionnaires every day and send assistance to Ukraine.

To resolve logistics issues, the Ministry of Infrastructure has a special logistics center, which includes Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukrposhta and other carriers.

According to the deputy head of the President’s Office, during the war Ukrzaliznytsia evacuated almost 4 million people by train free of charge. More than 1.3 million people from Kyiv and almost 500,000 from Kharkiv were evacuated. The total number of Ukrainians who traveled abroad by rail is about 500,000.

People from the blocked cities and cities, which are most difficult in terms of safety, were evacuated via safe corridors.

“Unfortunately, there was fire against civilians, but since the beginning of the war, almost 300,000 people have been evacuated from Sumy, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” the deputy head of the President’s Office said.

According to Svyrydenko, special attention is paid to the problem of fuel supply. From the first days of the war, the government agreed with the Polish Governmental Agency for Strategic Reserves to provide 20,000 tonnes of fuel as humanitarian aid. At the same time, an agreement was reached with the largest networks of gas stations on its dispensing through their gas stations to certain categories of recipients.

Sokolovska, for her part, reminded that people receive psychological help within the framework of the Tell Me program. There is also a web platform for the effective collection and processing of information on case of violation of human rights by the Russian Federation.