Thursday, January 22, 2015

‘People Starving’ in Eastern Ukraine as Humanitarian Crisis Unfolds

Vulnerable people living in east Ukraine are in serious danger of starving if normal government services aren’t restored by the government in Kiev. In November 2014 the decision was made to stop social benefits being sent to east meaning, among other things, that elderly Ukranians in the region are no longer receiving their pensions.
Krasimir Yankov, Amnesty International’s Ukrainian researcher described the situation in the east as “dire”, saying: “[Kiev] have cut off these regions from the Ukrainian financial situation. People can’t get money from the bank, ATMs don’t work, they can’t make electronic transactions. We saw huge queues outside the post offices as now people have to go there to access their money.”
Yankov, who made several visits to the eastern territories in December 2014, estimated that “Local authorities have told us that 60% in Luhansk are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. Things might be OK in the bigger cities but in small villages and towns it’s not.”

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