As of 30 November, eleven humanitarian aid drives of the Humanitarian Centre have delivered 1,082,000 food parcels to peaceful citizens in Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts. In December, the Centre is expanding the variety and quantity of the food and also adding more nutritious groceries. Now a food parcel will weigh 13 kg, up from 10 kg. Alongside flour, sugar, cereals, tinned food, sunflower oil, biscuits and other groceries, it additionally includes two tins of meat, two packs of pasta and a tin of corn. The Centre expects to deliver another million of food parcels by the year end. A revised version of the Humanitarian Map shows that 35% of residents in Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts need food urgently. 

The Centre also continued to evacuate and house IPDs from the ATO area. Since May, it helped to evacuate 38,864 and accommodate 6,915 people, mostly in safe areas of Donetsk, Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Nikolayev and Dnepropetrovsk oblasts. As the weather became colder, the Centre moved the most vulnerable to heated facilities in Zaporozhye and Kharkov oblasts.

Under the Help Children programme the Humanitarian Centre has provided 27,440 parcels for families with infants. Their parents do not receive payments from the government so cannot buy the basic necessities for kids of this age – baby food and hygiene items. The Humanitarian Map shows that 30% of families cannot give their children basic necessities. Initiated by Rinat Akhmetov, the Help Children project is implemented in partnership with FC Shakhtar. Its volunteers help to dispense parcels to families from Donetsk and Makeyevka at Donbass Arena. In December, the project will cover more areas. The Centre estimates around 40,000 infants are living in the ATO zone. 

The Help for Health programme launched in November to consolidate all medical aid projects has brought   assistance to 14,189 people. The Humanitarian Map indicates that the need for medicines is the most urgent as 49% of residents in Lugansk and Donetsk oblasts need them. The Centre has helped 11 key hospitals in Donetsk Oblast and also delivered 10,000 first-aid kits for the elderly, 1,000 – for mothers and children, 20 – for bomb shelters. A monthly dose of insulin was brought to 3,095 people, heart diseases drugs – to 74. In December, Donbass Arena will begin to distribute expectant mother kits that include everything a mother, baby and doctor need during and after labour. The Humanitarian Centre estimates 2,500 mothers-to-be are living in Donetsk and Makeyevka.

The Humanitarian Centre is launching a programme to train crisis psychologists to work in the ATO area. Experts believe that 15%-20% of all the residents in this region may have light or medium disorders over the next 12 months. 

In addition, the Centre has given “targeted help” to 1,080 people – payment for surgeries, medical procedures, medication, help to the families of peaceful people killed and injured during the hostilities.

The Rinat Akhmetov Humanitarian Centre was established on 6 August 2014 to provide the most effective help to peaceful citizens in Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts affected by the hostilities. The Centre supplies humanitarian assistance, provides medical, targeted and psychological aid, helps children, evacuates people from the war zone and accommodates the internally displaced individuals.

You can contact the Humanitarian Centre at a toll-free multichannel hotline 0 800 50 9001 and athelpdonbass@fdu.org.ua.