Ukraine conflict one year on

Morethan a year into the war, 18 million Ukrainians are in need of aid and a further 13 million are unable to return to their homes5 million displaced inside the country’s borders and 8 million living as refugees elsewhere in Europe.

Since the early days of the crisis, Christian Aid has been responding with partners to provide emergency support to around 800,000 people inside Ukraine and in neighbouring countries. Your generous donations enabled this quick response.

We have provided medical supplies and equipment to 100 health facilities, including trauma kits and baby incubators. We have also evacuated people away from the fighting and provided food to over 120,000 people. During the winter, your donations helped thousands of displaced people stay warm despite freezing temperatures.

Thanks to donations made by people like you to the Irish Emergency Alliance, Christian Aid’s local partner Alliance for Public Health gave cash grants to 16 community-led projects right across Ukraine, which in turn helped over 13,000 people.

In Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, one local community group used their grant to provide hundreds of people living in a shelter with warm winter clothes, blankets and torches. These families were in urgent need of support, many having fled emptyhanded from frontline areas previously controlled by the Russian army.

One of those helped at the shelter is 26-year-old mum-of-two Mykhaila whose home was destroyed in a rocket attack in March. She said: ‘I was very scared and full of dread because my children’s lives were at risk. We were afraid that we would not be able to get out of this hell but thanks to the volunteers, we were evacuated on the same day.’

Thanks to money donated by people like you to the UK Disasters Emergency Committee, Christian Aid and our partner Blythswood supported local community groups to help people unable to flee villages close to the frontline. Many homes in these villages have been damaged or destroyed by shelling, leaving families even more vulnerable to sub-zero temperatures. Christian Aid’s partner supplied woodburning stoves and electricity generators to help keep people warm, and often have only a few minutes to unload their supplies before retreating to safety.

In Odessa, southern Ukraine, funds generously donated by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland allowed our partners to reach even more people displaced by the conflict, providing medicine, shelter and other forms of emergency aid.

Christian Aid’s Global Humanitarian Manager Karen McDonnell spent many months in Ukraine. She said: ‘The only thing keeping a lot of Ukrainians alive is external support. What will happen when people stop paying attention?’