Ukraine receiving less humanitarian aid as global attention wanes - minister

MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Social Policy Minister Oksana Zholnovich has complained that the volume of humanitarian aid sent to Ukraine has been declining as the country is ceasing to be the focus of world attention.

"In general, the volume of humanitarian aid has been declining because Ukraine is ceasing to be a trend of world attention," Ukrainian media quoted Zholnovich as saying at a press conference in Kiev on Wednesday, while reviewing the ministry's work in 2023.

The Ukrainian leadership should make additional efforts to draw more attention to the country, she said.

"Therefore, I believe the efficiency and transparency of such decisions will be among the things that we can show impartially as regards what we receive and how we distribute it, and formulate our necessities to international partners by citing figures rather than just intuitively," she said.

As reported, the Social Policy Ministry announced in September that the rules for bringing humanitarian aid into the country and registering it would be changed starting December 1, 2023. In particular, using the Automated System for the Registration of Humanitarian Aid web platform, organizations planning to bring humanitarian aid into Ukraine would be able to sign up and log in on this website to fill in and submit a declaration, so that it should be forwarded to the customs authority.

In November 2023, the government extended the validity of paper declarations for bringing humanitarian aid into Ukraine until April 1, 2024.

On December 13, 2023, the Social Policy Ministry endorsed the composition of a working group to update the system for handling humanitarian aid.