President Joe Biden announced today following his meeting with President Zelenskyy that the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided more than $374 million in additional humanitarian assistance in response to ongoing needs caused by Putin’s war against Ukraine. This additional life-saving assistance comes at a crucial moment as continued Russian attacks on civilian housing and critical infrastructure have left many communities without access to safe shelter, food, clean water and sanitation, and other basic services during the harsh winter.
With this additional funding, USAID partners the UN Children’s Fund, the UN World Food Program, the UN World Health Organization, and a non-governmental organization will provide multi-sector humanitarian assistance to alleviate the suffering of millions of people in the worst-affected areas of the country, including people displaced by fighting. The funding will help partners provide urgently needed food and cash assistance to more than 1.5 million people, as well as health care, humanitarian protection, safe drinking water and sanitation services, trauma support, and winterization relief items and shelter repairs to support more than 2.5 million people.
The United States remains the largest donor to the humanitarian response for Ukraine. Since the start of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, the U.S. government has provided more than $1.9 billion in humanitarian assistance to support people in Ukraine and those fleeing to neighboring countries, including more than $1.4 billion in USAID humanitarian assistance.
Since Russia’s attack on February 24, USAID has been coordinating with humanitarian partners in the country and region to provide Ukrainians with life-saving humanitarian assistance while ramping up critical development assistance to respond to cyber-attacks and threats to the energy sector, countering disinformation, supporting small businesses and the agriculture sector, documenting human rights violations, meeting essential health needs, and bolstering the continued functioning of local, regional, and national government entities. We continue to stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and remain committed to providing life-saving assistance to those who need it most.
