Published: 26 November 2015

Kyiv/Budapest/Geneva, 26 November 2015 – The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) calls for urgent action in response to the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in Ukraine. Two years since civil unrest and conflict internally displaced 1.4 million people, relief supplies are dwindling and the IFRC’s emergency appeal for 20 million Swiss francs to enable the Ukrainian Red Cross Society to assist 100,000 people is significantly underfunded.

Temperatures can drop as low as -20C during winter months, and without more support, the society’s ability to deliver essential relief including heating devices, food and mobile medical care is at risk.

“The situation is critical. 1.4 million people are now entering their third year of being displaced from their homes, savings have become depleted, and families – as well as host communities dealing with the economic crisis – have come to rely increasingly on humanitarian relief,” said Dr Ivan Usichenko, President of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society.

Simon Missiri, Director of IFRC’s Europe Region said health, food security and shelter were the priority needs for which funding is urgently sought. “We are witnessing a spiral of vulnerability. Families are separated; employment has become harder to find in the face of a weak economy; market prices for basic items have tripled. We are making an urgent call to the world to remember this forgotten crisis in Ukraine,” he said

The Ukrainian Red Cross Society has deployed 26 mobile medical care teams in Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporozhe, Kharkov and Poltava to provide essential health care to more than 17,000 people. A further 15 emergency response teams have been mobilized, delivering food vouchers and parcels to 12,000 people and providing psychosocial support to more than 3,000.

To learn more about the IFRC emergency appeal for Ukraine, visit www.ifrc.org.

For further information, please contact:

In Ukraine:

▪ Dr. Ivan Usichenko, President, Ukrainian Red Cross Society

Email: national@redcross.org.ua ¦ Phone: +380 442350157 +380 442350157

▪ Violeta Lombarts, Head of Country Office, IFRC Ukraine

Email: violeta.lombarts@ifrc.org ¦ Mobile: +380 981745570 +380 981745570

In Budapest:

▪ Linda Low, communications manager, IFRC Europe

Email: linda.low@ifrc.org ¦ Mobile: +36 709537704 +36 709537704

In Geneva:

▪ Benoit Carpentier, team leader public communications, IFRC

Email: benoit.carpentier@ifrc.org ¦ Twitter: @BenoistC ¦ Mobile: +41 79 213 2413 +41 79 213 2413