Aid agencies redouble their efforts in the face of crisis in Ukraine

RZESZOW, Poland (AP) — With the Russian invasion of Ukraine entering its fourth week, aid agencies continue to intensify their efforts to bring necessary necessities to civilians affected by the fighting and to the more than three million refugees who have fled the country since the start of the offensive.

Rzeszow, the largest city in southeastern Poland, just 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) from the Ukrainian border, has become the logistics hub for humanitarian aid in the region. The material — including food, blankets, sunlamps, warm clothing, mattresses, drums and plastic sheeting — continues to arrive by land and air at a huge warehouse managed by the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, near the city's airport.

“What we've been doing is bringing more people into the country, bringing more help, working with our partners to make sure we can do an effective job, to do everything we can to help,” said Matthew Saltmarsh, spokesman for the agency.

According to Saltmarsh, in the last month UNHCR has received “more than 300 million lots of donations” from the private sector and has managed to deliver some of these supplies to Ukraine. At the moment it has shipped 22 trucks, and plans to take another 10 trucks loaded with basic necessities soon to the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine, not far from the Polish border. Lviv has largely been spared destruction and has become the first destination for many who flee the country.

Some of the aid brought to the city has been discharged and distributed there, said Saltmarsh, but the rest are still waiting to be able to advance when the security situation makes it possible to reach the most affected areas, such as the port city of Mariupol, which has been under siege and suffered Russian attacks almost since the start of the war.

“Obviously, this is very worrying and is a great challenge for the humanitarian community,” the spokesman added.

In addition, efforts are being redoubled to care for refugees, of whom almost half are children, who have arrived in Poland and other border countries.

Those who now arrive in neighboring nations are “more vulnerable, (are) in a more traumatic state” than those who did in the early days of the war, Saltmarsh said.

Kateryna Horiachko, who fled the immediate vicinity of the capital, Kiev, said that the people there were “devastated”.

“They have lost their homes, they have lost everything they had, they have lost relatives... We have no (other) left (than) to become refugees,” added Horiachko upon his arrival in Suceava, Romania, on Thursday.

Her husband and parents are still in Ukraine, said Horiachko, who hopes to find a way to help them.

“The economy in Ukraine is also ruined, people have no jobs or income and need help,” he added.

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Eldar Emric in Suceava, Rumaria, contributed to this office.