German to increase humanitarian aid for Ukraine - minister

MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax) - Germany will provide another 40 million euros in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, German Minister of State for Europe and Climate Anna Luhrmann said.

"I have arrived today to announce that Germany will provide another 40 million euros for humanitarian aid this winter. We will also provide another 5 million euros for the reconstruction of Ukrainian schools together with the UNDP," Ukrainian media quoted Luhrmann as telling journalists in Kiev on Wednesday.

Some equipment is already on its way to Ukraine, including generators worth over 11 million euros, which should be delivered shortly, she said.

Luhrmann has arrived in Ukraine as a member of a delegation including other high-ranking European officials. The delegation also includes European Parliament Vice-President Nicola Beer, Austrian Federal Minister for the EU and Constitution Karoline Edtstadler, Croatian Secretary of State for Europe Andreja Metelko-Zgombic, Liechtenstein Foreign Affairs, Education, and Sport Minister Dominique Hasler, Latvian Foreign Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Gunda Reire, Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Chancellor Jovita Neliupsiene, and Romanian Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniela Gitman.

In particular, Gitman said her country would allot 300,000 euros to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as aid for the Ukrainian population in winter.

Edtstadler said Austria has allotted 92 million euros for Ukraine, which is the largest package of humanitarian aid the country has ever provided.

Reire said a women's rehabilitation center partially financed by Latvia would start working in Ivano-Frankovsk next week.