Donors meet in Paris to get Ukraine through winter, bombing
PARIS (AP) —
Dozens of countries and international organizations were throwing their
weight behind a fresh and urgent push Tuesday to keep Ukraine powered,
fed, warm and moving in the face of sustained Russian aerial
bombardments that have plunged millions into the cold and dark in
winter.
An
international donor conference in Paris was expected to raise and help
coordinate many tens of millions of dollars of aid — both financial and
in kind — to be rushed to Ukraine in coming weeks and months to help its
beleaguered civilian population survive winter’s freezing temperatures
and long nights.
French
President Emmanuel Macron, in a speech opening the conference,
described Moscow’s bombardments of civilian targets as a war crime. He
said the Kremlin is attacking civilian infrastructure because its troops
have suffered setbacks on the battlefields.
Moscow’s intention is to “plunge the Ukrainian people into despair,” Macron said
Ukraine President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke by video link, said 12 million Ukrainians
are suffering power outages. He said the country needs electricity
generators as urgently as it also needs armored vehicles and armored
vests for its troops.
As
temperatures plunge and snow falls, Ukraine’s needs are huge and
pressing. Successive waves of missile and drone attacks since October
have destroyed about half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the
government in Kyiv says. It says Russia is trying to create a fresh wave
of refugees to Europe. Russia says striking civilian infrastructure is
intended to weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.
In Ukraine, life for many is becoming a battle for survival.
“Globally
we need everything,” said Yevhen Kaplin, who heads a Ukrainian
humanitarian group, Proliska, providing cooking stoves, blankets and
other aid to front-line regions and away from the battlefields.
With
“the shelling, the missiles strikes and strikes on the infrastructure,
we can’t say whether there will be gas tomorrow, we can’t predict
whether to buy gas stoves or not,” he said. “Every day the picture
changes.”
Specifically,
the Paris conference is to focus on helping Ukraine meet its needs for
water, power, food, health and transport during the coming months
through to the end of March. The meeting’s French organizers say the aid
drive will also send a message to the Kremlin that the international
community is sticking by Ukraine against Russia’s aerial bombardments
that have savaged the Ukrainian power grid and other key infrastructure.
Sweden
was among the first nations attending the meeting to pledge more aid.
Its foreign trade minister, Johan Forssell, announced a contribution of
55 million euros (US$58 million) for humanitarian aid and the rebuilding
of schools, hospitals and energy infrastructure.
As winter bites,
“we need to do whatever we can to help improve conditions in Ukraine and
also help them to fight off the Russian invaders,” he said. “We’re here
for them as long as it takes.”
The
meeting also aims to put in a place a system to coordinate
international aid this winter, mirroring the way that Western nations
supplying weapons coordinate their military support. A web-based
platform will enable Ukraine to list its civilian aid needs, and allow
donors to show what they’ll supply in response.
The conference’s French organizers say they are expecting more than 45 nations and 20 international institutions to take part.
