UN says it can’t afford to support Ukrainians

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) lacks the funds to assist Ukrainians during the upcoming winter, while the demand for help is only increasing, according to the body’s representative in Ukraine, Karolina Lindholm Billing.

Speaking to AFP on Thursday, the senior official said the organization, as well as other humanitarian bodies, are severely underfunded and cannot provide support to Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced persons in full.

“The reality is that the funding situation for organizations like ours is far too low at this time of the year – we are 47% funded,” she said.

Kiev’s need has been increasing, with the situation deteriorating even further in recent weeks. “The expectations and asks from the authorities for support from organizations like UNHCR is actually increasing,” Lindholm Billing stated.

Ukraine has some 3.6 million internally displaced people and nearly 100,000 more have recently fled their homes, according to the official. Some 650,000 receive aid to make it through the winter, including warm clothing and kits to insulate their homes, the representative explained.

“If we can get the funds, I am convinced we’ll be able to help them,” Lindholm Billing said.

The official called for a concentrated effort to fix Ukraine’s critical infrastructure damaged during hostilities, as well as to invest more into decentralized energy generation in the country. Without such measures, the numbers of refugees and internally displaced people are expected to grow rapidly, she warned.

The upcoming winter is expected to be the toughest one for Kiev yet, with some 50% to 80% of its electricity generation capacity already lost, according to various estimates. Back in August, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko warned the country would suffer major power outages, with electricity supplied to customers for only a few hours daily.