"Remember Ukraine?" - UN relief chief urges attention as country faces 3rd year of war and occupation
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths’ remarks to the press at the joint OCHA-UNHCR launch of the 2024 Ukraine Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan and the Regional Refugee Response Plan for Ukraine:
As delivered.
So right now, it is good to be here with Filippo [Grandi] because we are launching, as you said, two response plans today to support the people of Ukraine through 2024.
One is for those who fled the war and are refugees, which Filippo will speak to. And then the humanitarian plan for those in need who remain in the country. This is a normal process, you know, in places where there are large refugee outflows and where there are connections between the two plans. It is important that they synergize, and you can see that they are complementary.
Ukraine – you remember Ukraine? It has been quite a while since we have seen much about it. I think a year ago, it would have been all Ukraine. And now, for the last many weeks, we have heard very little about it. So, I am very glad we have got this opportunity today to talk about it, to launch it this morning.
Next month, we will enter a third year and an unexpected, in my view, a third year of full-blown war and occupation. It started, of course, ten years ago in the east of the country. But the escalation in 2022 rushed in a whole new level of death, destruction and despair and, of course, of outflow of refugees. Forty per cent of the population will need humanitarian assistance this year. That is 14.6 million people, 40 per cent of the population in Ukraine will need humanitarian aid. Four million people are internally displaced. That is in addition to those who are externally displaced; 3.3 million live in frontline communities in the east and south where the war goes on, under relentless bombardment – 3.3 million people living in the middle of war zones, of bombardment, of uncertainty about where the day will end. And that is really a shockingly high number, even these days.
No place in Ukraine is untouched by the war and the wave of attacks that began just before the new year, as we saw, witness to this, to the devastating civilian cost of the war. Add to that the harsh winter, which is sweeping across Ukraine and ratcheting up people's need for lifesaving support, heating, proper shelter, warm clothes and a sufficient calorie intake because of the winter.
In the small towns and villages on the front lines, people have exhausted their own meager resources and rely on aid coming in through the convoys of our partners to survive. In the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, families live in damaged houses with no piped water, gas or electricity in the freezing cold. Constant bombardments force older people to spend their days in basements. Children – terrified, traumatized, still – have lived for the last [two] years under these circumstances, trapped indoors and many of them with no schooling.
Across Ukraine, homes, schools and hospitals are repeatedly hit. Basic services are not spared. Water, gas and power systems. Indeed, the very fabric of society, how we live – employment, schools, care centers, shopping, safety of access to those places daily – is under threat.
But it is worth taking a moment to remember that Ukrainians refuse to buckle under this extraordinary onslaught. And they refuse to resign. People step up for each other. Community spirit remains high. They volunteer to help deliver relief to those who cannot move, some warm shelter, care for children. No less than 60 per cent of our 500 humanitarian partners are Ukrainian organizations. So, 500 humanitarian organizations operating inside Ukraine, delivering aid inside Ukraine, more than half of them are Ukrainian organizations. A testament really to the community spirit and the patriotic spirit of many people in that country.
We aim to reach more than 8.5 million people this year with water and hygiene services, materials to repair homes, winter clothes, supplies and things that I have already referred to. The plan for 8.5 million focuses, as you know from the math, on the most vulnerable. Those who are close to the frontline are the top priority. And every day, convoys are sent out to reach those in danger, as are the convoys in danger. Aid will be delivered across the country to areas we can reach by these comprehensive programmes on these convoys, in partnership with local NGOs, local partners I referred to and complementing the Ukrainian Government's own efforts.
And our relationship with the Ukrainian Government remains steady, strong, supportive, and we act under their guidance, under their leadership and often under their direction. We are asking donors for $3.1 billion in funding for 2024. More will be needed to support those who Filippo will refer to.
No one wants to depend on assistance from outsiders to cover life's basic needs. This is true across the world, whether in Gaza, Sudan or Syria or elsewhere. No one wants to depend on such assistance. But there is no choice for those 14 .6 million who need assistance, 8.5 million of whom we are targeting. They need your help. They need your funding because humanitarian aid remains the lifeline without which they will perish.
As the war continues unabated, without signs that I am aware of, of coming to some conclusion, and amid everything else happening across the globe, we must stay the course for the people of Ukraine. And it is a very sad reminder that today we are begging for attention for Ukraine, when for so many days and weeks and months of previous years we have had much greater attention to Ukraine and we begged for attention for places elsewhere, places are still needed like Sudan and so forth. But today, we beg for attention for the people of Ukraine, and we will be having a launch here, right after this meeting.
Thank you very much.
Geneva Global Solutions: My question is about the talks hosted by the Swiss yesterday, about the ten-point peace formula. I was wondering how involved is the UN with these efforts, which points in the plan are directly or indirectly related to humanitarian needs? And do you foresee any other initiatives such as the Black Sea Grain Deal which we saw, of course, fall apart, but do you see any other similar agreements that could be reached?
Under-Secretary-General Griffiths: I do not have any direct involvement in that peace process, but I think the UN does observe much of it. And, of course, we get reports about the meetings that we will look at and I am sure of the one yesterday. I know my colleague, Denise Brown, the Humanitarian Coordinator and Resident Coordinator for the UN in Ukraine, does attend meetings in the Presidency, I think, still weekly, on the progress of that plan. And it is still in progress, because we are about to enter the third year, and as Filippo [Grandi] said, which I thought was a really good point – it’s has been as bad as it could be, this last month, hasn’t it, and that has really been quite shocking. The number of attacks, the broad range across the whole of the country from Russia has been absolutely unrelenting. So, we need to progress on that.
As a former mediator, there is nothing more important than a horizon of future for peace, some sort of optimism. On the Black Sea, yes, we were very unhappy, of course, all of us, about the termination in July of the Black Sea Initiative. [Secretary-General of UN Conference on Trade and Development] Rebeca Grynspan has been continuing her work on the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the UN and Russia on getting Russian exports out, that wasn't stopped. That's still going on, and we are still hoping to make progress on it. We met here in Geneva, Rebeca hosting a meeting, I was present, [as was] the Russian delegation, a few weeks ago. So we’re still talking, and there is still opportunities in our view for progress on the Black Sea. What we need to remember about the Black Sea is this: It is obviously coming through the Bosporus – the choke point on the Bosporus – a trade route of the highest importance, not just for grain, but, in particular to the food security for grain, but also for oil and for other commodities. And if the war were to – and I have seen signs that it has, in some respects – to be extended to make the Black Sea really a war theater, then, of course, those exports would be at risk.
So far, a rare piece of relatively good news: The exports that are continuing by both Ukraine and Russia, out of Odessa port down through the solidarity lanes down in the western edge of the Black Sea, have been working quite well. I have heard the figure of up to 7.5 million tons exported through the course of the last many months in this way. But it is precarious. It is tenuous and I believe personally that we need to talk to both sides about how to make those exports safe. And, of course, we are in constant contact with Türkiye on this, who will have their lead role in the Black Sea. So, watch this space.
Reuters: Thank you, Mr. Griffiths, given that the response plan is designed to cover people most in need, many of these people are in areas occupied by Russia or near the front lines, and OCHA has said that its access to these areas, to the occupied areas, has been significantly impeded. I am just wondering how you plan to reach all these people in these areas and whether the greatest impediment is the absence of security guarantees or the lack of political will from the occupying power. Thank you.
Under-Secretary-General Griffiths: Yes, you are right, there are significant numbers although I do not have the exact number in front of me, but in areas under Russian control, on the Russian side of the line, where our convoys have not crossed, virtually since the beginning of the war, there has been aid provided to the people living there – they certainly need it obviously, just like any other parts of the country – through local organizations, some of them supported by organizations in Ukraine proper, but not enough. And we continue to remain in negotiation with the Russian Government about how to make access to those people, how to get access to those people – not even more effective [access, but] how to get access to those who are perhaps in the most urgent of need since it has now been two years since any real, effective, regular, reliable humanitarian aid has reached them – the lower Donbass effectively and elsewhere.
And on the front lines, this is the daily life, really, of humanitarian operations inside Ukraine. Yes, to the displaced who are further back in places of safety, yes to repair and reconstruct shelters in those places because of the winter and because people coming back, and also people fleeing from the frontlines need somewhere to live. Yes, to repair places which are damaged by these attacks – all of these things. But people in the front lines, for example, by the river and Kherson and so forth, people have lived through this hell for two years – these people are reached by these convoys, and on every occasion, we provide notification to both sides when a convoy is going to take place – to what area, with what purpose, with what kind of supplies and so forth. So we're completely open and transparent about that for the purposes of safety and security. We do this elsewhere: We do this in Gaza, we do this in Syria. We do this around the world. It is essentially a deconfliction system, so to make sure that the places we go to are not attacked.
On the whole, those convoys have gone through safely in the course of this last year, and that is a great relief for those people living there. But humanitarian aid needs to be repetitive, reliable, predictable. You need to know when the next one is coming in order to space out the supplies that you have acquired on this occasion. This is everywhere. This is in Gaza, this is everywhere. And that, I think, is what is most important for the people on the frontlines: To be sure that they know that next week or in a month's time or whatever the regularity is planned, that it is something that can be relied on. And under the leadership of Denise, and with these 500 partners, and with the funding, which has been very, very generous in these last couple of years, that has mostly been achieved. That’s a small mercy, but it is a mercy for people involved in war.
Last year, in 2023, we had a budget of $3.9 billion, more than this year, we have constantly tried to reduce the numbers we are asking for because the economy, the global economy, tells us to. We received 67 per cent funding last year, so we received $2.65 billion last year, 67 per cent funding. It was probably, almost certainly, the best level of funding in the world last year. Our total amount of funding for the whole year for the Global Humanitarian Response Plans, which required [$57] billion, I think, by the end of the year, we received around [34 per cent]. This year, we have launched a plan for the year for humanitarian response plans totaling [$47] billion, again, trying to keep the numbers down so that we can make sure we get as much as we can to prioritize people. We would hope to improve on the percentage, but Ukraine has been relatively well funded. But, as people have said who have visited and Filippo will remind us when he’s there, it is not fully funded. And the needs continue to grow because as the war goes on. It continues to destroy infrastructure. And the destruction of infrastructure is what makes humanitarian aid necessary. Thank you.
Anadolu: My question is, is there a possibility for peace negotiation to stop ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine this year? Are you making your aid plans and stating that this war will be continued this year also?
Under-Secretary-General Griffiths: Maybe I'm lucky – I have nothing to do with political diplomacy and the achievement of peace because it does not, the global record these days is pretty grim, isn't it? So, I got the easy one, which is humanitarian aid. We always plan humanitarian aid across the world, without supposition that the war will end and release us from our obligations. Each plan that we've put forward like this one today is for the whole year. If suddenly, tomorrow, a miracle happened and the war stopped, we would be the happiest of people, right after the Ukrainian people. And, of course, we would redirect funding towards reconstruction and repair and so forth. There will continue to be significant financial needs even in the aftermath of war, and we know this from everywhere we’ve worked. The cost of reconstruction, of making homes safe, of demining, especially of demining agricultural areas. The cost of the repair of the Kakhovka dam, which has still not been repaired. There will always be costs, but this plan is based on the pessimistic assumption that the war will continue through 2024.
Voice of America: I have got a couple of questions. One is you just said that the needs will rise as the war goes on. True. And so, I would like your reaction to the fact that support appears to be waning for Ukraine from the United States, from European countries, and what your concerns are about that, in terms of the continuance of the war and the acceleration of the damage and the needs that will be growing. And are you concerned that if Russia does indeed gobble up Ukraine, that its appetite to go after other countries will accelerate as well, as this will create more work for you and other humanitarian agencies? And then secondly, is there any, do you have any sort of interaction with the Russian Government and what do you know about people, the Ukrainians, who are living in the Russian occupied territories? Apparently you are not able to get to any of them. What are your concerns about that?
Under-Secretary-General Griffiths: Well, I think I answered the second question already, I think it was the first question I was asked. So, access to these people and how aid is delivered has been, at a very low level, by local organizations throughout and our own access has been impossible for reasons of safety and security. We made many representations, we have had many discussions with Russian authorities about it, and we have not yet succeeded in coming to an agreement as to how we can deliver aid responsibly, according to our usual norms to those people directly. It can be done through cash, of course – cash is one of the ways in which, particularly last year, we saw a huge increase in cash globally, as a way of delivering aid and cash crosses lines, you know, through the Internet. In 2023, cash assistance reached 4 million people in Ukraine – $580 million disbursed through cash. You know, by far the largest amount, of course, in areas that are under Ukrainian control because there are complications providing cash into those Russian-held areas, to do with banking and so forth. Cash is a means of getting aid to people who need it in places like that.
The first question: Well, I am not going to get into the business of Russia gobbling up any countries. Again, that is not my business – I am focused on aid where it is needed now. And the truth of the matter is, firstly, we do have a very close and honest and open and constructive relationship with the Government [of Ukraine]. That helps us a great deal in terms of our operations. We complement their work.
As Filippo said about the regional response – it is also true about the in-country response – many of the people are reached by people who are not part of the response plan: European aid directly and others. And we have not seen a diminution of humanitarian aid for those people, nor indeed from the United States, as yet. No diminution of humanitarian aid – there may be diminution and other aspects of aid to Ukraine, but for us, for now, and we beg for today, please do not walk away from Ukraine. The people of Ukraine need us today as much as they did on the 22nd of February two years ago. Thank you.
Reuters: Given that the appeal, last year was funded at 67 per cent, as you mentioned, and obviously we have a lot of competing crises, as you mentioned as well. How do you think donors will respond to this appeal this year given all these crises? What level of funding would you deem acceptable or workable in the circumstances for Ukraine? Thank you.
Under-Secretary-General Griffiths: One hundred per cent funded. What are you going to ask me, right? I mean, we would not put a plan out if we if we did not want to fund it at 100 per cent. We have already reduced the numbers of those we seek to reach, so we’ve already reduced those to the priority needs. And every single plan that we put out is very, very strictly prioritized. You will see that as we go through 2024. We have reduced, as I said earlier, the overall ask from [$57] billion down to [$47] billion, and we do that in order to make sure that we want all of it. There are no parts of this which are sort of an “add on,” “nice to have,” “optional,” or “extra.” This is all about, in Ukraine, lifesaving assistance, and we hope that governments will continue to be generous.
Of course, you are right, at the bottom of your question is the competition for funding, it is getting greater and there is no question about it. As we go into 2024, the competition for funding is going to be even more difficult than 2023, even. The costs of the Gaza war, even before it extends any further, is considerable. But also, remember that country that we never talk about, Sudan, which has probably the greatest suffering that you see in many senses around the world today and which is down around [42] per cent funded, I think, but which is so hard to get onto the screens and to the attention of people precisely because of the competition of places like Gaza now and Ukraine, as it was.
Getting attention, your attention, I am not blaming the press, this is a factor of world interest, to these countries and it makes all the difference, and Sudan is one where I feel the greatest conscience and failure of ours to deliver to the people there. The UN operation is not in Khartoum. It has also been now part of many attacks in Wad Medani, which is the jump-off point for Khartoum. MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières], as usual courageous to an extraordinary degree, still gets in and out of Khartoum.
ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross], the same.
But Sudan, well, that is a whole other story for another day.
Please Ukraine today, only asking for a little bit, $3.1 billion, please.
Thank you very much.