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You Can Make a Difference »Posted by the American Red Cross on April 14, 2022

Posted by the American Red Cross on April 14, 2022

As conflict in Ukraine continues, the American Red Cross has contributed $12 million dollars toward relief efforts. This support allows the Red Cross network to provide lifesaving aid to those in need — both in the country and in neighboring areas. Currently, an estimated 12 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The contribution includes $10 million dollars to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to help alleviate the suffering caused by this devastating crisis as well as $2 million dollars to the Danish Red Cross to provide emergency supplies to people displaced within Ukraine. This includes non-perishable food items, first aid kits, blankets and hygiene kits to people fleeing their homes inside the country as well as families sheltering in place and unable to access life-saving supplies.

Of the approximately 11 million people who have been displaced by this conflict, an estimated 7.1 million are still inside the country and in need of urgent life-saving assistance.

“With every day that passes, we know vulnerabilities increase. Access to medical supplies, food, water, utilities, and other vital goods and services deteriorates,” says IFRC Regional Director for Europe, Birgitte Bischoff.  “We know there are so many uncertainties for people right now, but one thing that’s clear is the needs are immense, and they will be for a long time.”

In Ukraine: Aid Amidst the Violence

Under mortal danger to themselves, Ukrainian Red Cross teams are still working tirelessly to help people and communities impacted by conflict. The constant violence across the country has left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity, water, food. Families are huddled underground for hours on end seeking safety while homes are reduced to rubble. Damaged roads have disrupted supply chains, leaving communities cut off from food and basic supplies.

In Mariupol, Ukraine, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is making every continual effort to deliver urgently needed aid to the city. On April 6, an ICRC team led a convoy of buses and private cars carrying about 1,000 people to Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. The civilians transported in the humanitarian convoy had fled Mariupol on their own. The ICRC team had tried over the course of five days to reach Mariupol, and came within 12 miles of the city, but security conditions on the ground made it impossible to enter.  Read more here at Red Cross.

Photos

At an aid distribution at a local branch in Warsaw, Jenelle Eli of the IFRC is helping unloading the truck. The Polish Red Cross distributes humanitarian aid to people having fled Ukraine. Some of the needed items are food, medicine, hygiene items, bedsheets, coffee, and toilet paper. Photo: IFRC

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At an aid distribution at a local branch in Warsaw, Jenelle Eli of the IFRC is helping unloading the truck. The Polish Red Cross distributes humanitarian aid to people having fled Ukraine. Some of the needed items are food, medicine, hygiene items, bedsheets, coffee, and toilet paper. Photo: IFRC

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Slovak Red Cross volunteers work in the first aid room where they examine people fleeing Ukraine and provide medical care for people crossing the border. Photo: IFRC

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People fleeing from Ukraine wait at Polish-Ukrainian border checkpoint in Przemysl. Children are covered with thermal foil blankets to help protect them from the freezing temperatures. Photo: IFRC

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Ukranian Red Cross volunteer Sasha Kursova plays with 3-year-old Timur. The Red Cross distributed donated clothing and for children and adults as well as toys in front of the Red Cross branch office in Uzhorod. Photo by Marko Kokic/IFRC

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9-year-old Alyona came to the Uzhhorod, Ukraine Red Cross branch office with her mother to receive assistance from Red Cross volunteers and is now helping Red Cross volunteer Azia Antciferova sort donated supplies to be distributed to families that need them. “I want to become a Red Cross volunteer and I want to help. Now I now know where everything is so I can help give things way to people,” says Alyona. Azia has been a volunteer since 2015. Three weeks ago, she and her son and husband had to flee their home city of Kharkiv and are now living with a friend in a two-room apartment. Photo by Marko Kokic/IFRC

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Slovak Red Cross volunteers Katarina Rakicka and Yura Rusunyuk help a refugee family from Ukraine at the Kosice train station, which serves as a transfer point where refugees coming from Ukraine travel onward to other European countries. Duma, his wife Elena and their three children travelled from Dnepr in Ukraine. Duma explained that his home is near an airport in Dnepr which has been the target of a lot of shelling. Feeling unsafe, he and his wife decided to leave. They are headed toward the Czech Republic where Duma once worked and where he knows people. Photo by Marko Kokic/IFRC

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Ukranian Red Cross volunteer Jana Zovdun distributes donated shoes to an Internally Displaced Person. Ukrainian Red Cross volunteers distributed donated clothing as well as toys in front of the Red Cross branch office in Uzhorod. Many left their homes with what they could carry and are in need of additional clothes as the weather begins to become warmer. Volunteers are also taking the opportunity to collect information about what additional needs people may have. Photo by Marko Kokic/IFRC

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At a warehouse in eastern Hungary in the town of Debrecen (about an hour’s drive from the Ukrainian border), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has prepositioned truckloads of relief supplies destined for Ukraine. Donated relief items include blankets, tarpaulins, large family size tents, first aid kits for first aiders, hygiene parcels, kitchen sets, mattresses, refillable water bottles, plastic mats and soft drinks. Relief supplies include those provided by the Spanish, French, German, Finnish and Swiss Red Cross and from USAID. Photo by Marko Kokic/IFRC

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In the Uzhhorod, Ukraine Red Cross Branch office, volunteer Alieksandra Balabanova comforts a beneficiary who breaks down crying. Alieksandra says despite all that has happened in Ukraine, she doesn't cry. "I have to stay strong in order to help others," she explains. Photo by Marko Kokic/IFRC

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Ukranian Red Cross volunteer Lesya Ivanias gathers information about what help is needed from people displaced by the crisis. Photo by Marko Kokic/IFRC

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Romanian Red Cross volunteer Andrei give gloves to a child in Siret – a town on the border of Romania and Ukraine. His team helps families fleeing Ukraine by providing basic necessities such as medication, hygiene supplies, food, water, and warm clothes. They also offer mobile phone charging and SIM cards. Photo by Jenelle Eli/American Red Cross