Aid reached over 15,000 refugees

State Secretary and German Government Commissioner for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid Christoph Straesser inspected warehouses on the premises of Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1. In this way, the German delegation made sure that the project was being carried out; it aims to help refugees in Ukraine, is funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, and implemented by the Union of Samaritans of Ukraine.

The Union of Samaritans has cooperated with the Germans for over 20 years. According to the union, Western colleagues promptly respond to its requests for help and have repeatedly raised necessary funds or contacted donors. The Union of Samaritans together with representatives of the German government launched the first phase of aid delivery to refugees on November 24, 2014. It emphasized items that might be needed during the winter, like warm clothes, blankets, bedding, footwear, detergents and hygiene products, diapers, medicines, and food. Also, the organization’s activists were involved with resettling refugees to hostels. The winter program reached more than 15,000 refugees. The project’s second phase, designed to last for a year, started on March 15.

“Previously, humanitarian aid came only to Kyiv,” the aid project’s manager Yanina Levkovska told us. “The range of our work has now expanded. We send aid items also to refugees who are currently residents of Poltava, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv regions. Each month, we supply food parcels and medicines to people on welfare as well baby food for children under three. We provide primary medical care as well.”

In addition to holding an audit, the German delegation took part in gathering and packaging food parcels for eastern Ukrainian refugees now registered in Kyiv and interviewed refugees involved in aid work.