The Austrian charity organization Caritas has called on citizens and the federal government in Austria to continue assisting the Ukrainian people, especially through the most challenging winter since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
This was reported by the Austrian news agency APA, Ukrinform saw.
“The humanitarian situation in the third winter of the war is more dramatic than ever. The plight of people, especially the elderly and children, is enormous,” Klaus Schwertner, director of Vienna-based Caritas, said after a seven-day visit to Ukraine.
According to Schwertner, who toured Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Lubny and Poltava, Ukraine is facing “the most difficult winter since the start of the war”.
He pointed out that the daily life of Ukrainians is accompanied by missile and drone attacks from Russia as the aggressor weaponizes cold even more than before through massive shelling of energy infrastructure. “Eighty percent of thermal power plants, 50 percent of substations and 30 percent of hydroelectric power plants have been destroyed or seriously damaged. Heating, electricity and water supplies constantly get out of order at outdoor temperatures of down to -20 degrees,” the director of Caritas Vienna noted.
In addition, he pointed out that since February 2022, Russia has launched over 51,000 air raids against Ukraine, which at best meant psychological terror, and at worst, destruction, injuries, and deaths.
“But if there is one good news at this time, it is this: our aid is working, it is warming and it is of great importance to many men, women and children, especially now, at Christmas,” Schwertner said.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, more than four million Ukrainians have received humanitarian aid, he added.
According to estimates, about 14.6 million people in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian aid. According to Schwertner, it is especially important not to abandon Ukraine now.
“This is not a sprint, but the longest aid marathon that Europe, and therefore Austria, has had to run since World War 2. And our help is needed more urgently than ever,” the director of the Vienna-based Caritas stressed.
As Ukrinform reported, in November, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine Matthias Schmale stated during a press briefing in Geneva that almost 40% of Ukraine’s population currently requires humanitarian assistance.
Photo: caritas.ua
Source: Caritas calls for continued assistance to Ukraine throughout most difficult winter since war-start
