The budget of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the provision of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine has been increased to 250 million Swiss francs, the organization’s president, Peter Maurer, said.
“Some 75 million Swiss francs until February 24 (Russian invasion of Ukraine) per year was the approximate budget of the International Committee of the Red Cross for Ukraine. We asked our donors for 150 million Swiss francs. As a result, now our budget for Ukraine is 250 million Swiss francs. Then there are donors who are very generous in everything related to the situation in Ukraine, and this will allow us to expand our activities,” Maurer said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine and the Ukraine 24 TV Channel.
According to him, the ICRC’s humanitarian operation in Ukraine is the largest in the world in recent decades.
“Just for comparison: before the escalation in Ukraine, the largest Red Cross operations were carried out in Afghanistan, Syria. That is, with a budget of 180-190 million. Now Ukraine is our largest operation in the world,” he said.
Maurer also noted that the ICRC has already delivered 200 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and is ready to start distributing it.
Among other types of support, he named the intention of the organization to locally purchase goods and receive services, to support the economy. The president of the humanitarian organization also said that he had agreed with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on the implementation of a cash support scheme for the country, similar to the one during the COVID-19 crisis.
