UN wants $4.2 billion for Ukraine aid in 2024

The United Nations said yesterday it will need $4.2 billion to provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine in 2024, and to help millions of refugees who have fled the war-torn country.

While the Gaza war has dominated headlines in recent months, Russia's war in Ukraine is set to enter its third year in February.

The U.N. hopes to reach 8.5 million people within Ukraine and 2.3 million refugees and their host communities in eastern Europe.

"A recent wave of attacks underscores the devastating civilian cost of the war, while a bitter winter is ratcheting up the urgent need for life-saving humanitarian aid," the U.N. said.

The full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022 was the biggest invasion of a European country since World War II and the largest refugee crisis faced by the continent since the 1939-1945 conflict.

The U.N. says 14.6 million people will need humanitarian assistance in Ukraine this year, 40 percent of the population, of which it will try to reach the 8.5 million most in need.

"Hundreds of thousands of children live in communities on the front lines of the war, terrified, traumatized and deprived of their basic needs," U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said in a statement.

"That fact alone should compel us to do everything we can to bring more humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

"Homes, schools and hospitals are repeatedly hit, as are water, gas and power systems. The very fabric of society is under attack with devastating consequences."

Griffiths and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, launched the plan at a joint press conference at the U.N.'s Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Some 6.3 million people have fled Ukraine and remain refugees, mostly across Europe.

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