You're reading: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees appeals for $41.5 million for Donbas refuges

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has asked that $41.5 million be donated to refugees from eastern Ukraine in 2015.

“To respond to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and address some of the most urgent needs of the people displaced by the conflict, UNHCR will be launching on Feb. 9 a supplementary appeal for USD 41.5 million for 2015,” UNHCR’s press service has reported.

UNHCR teams reported that heavy fighting in Donetsk region in the country’s east over the last two weeks has resulted in the massive destruction of buildings and infrastructure and the collapse of basic services.

According to the UN, local authorities have begun to evacuate people from conflict areas. Evacuees are being taken to government-controlled towns to the north of Donetsk and to Kharkiv region. Apart from the organized evacuations, civilians continue to flee the conflict areas by their own means.

As more homes and civilian infrastructure is damaged or destroyed, UNHCR expects more people to be displaced to areas in central, southern and western Ukraine under the control of the Ukrainian government, but also to militant controlled areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

UNHCR has started to distribute relief in northern areas of the Donetsk region, where most IDPs travel to from the conflict areas. UNHCR’s aid has been distributed through local NGO networks in Kramatorsk, Sviatohirsk and Kharkiv. Some 2,000 of the most vulnerable new arrivals received blankets, sleeping bags, bed linen, warm clothes and jerry cans.

Additionally, some 1,600 newly arrived IDPs from Debaltseve and Vuhlehirsk have been assisted by UNHCR partners in conflict-affected areas which are not controlled by the government.

“The lack of access to public services previously provided by the central authorities has drastically worsened the plight of the civilian population in areas not under government control. This has been further aggravated by restrictions to the movement of people and goods. The surge in fighting has further limited the supply of urgently needed goods in the conflict areas,” UNHCR reported.