Germany’s foreign and development ministries are making €200 million available for Ukraine’s winter relief, citing Russian attacks and utility disruptions as the country approaches another cold season.
The Federal Foreign Office and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development announced the package Nov. 13, after the Bundestag Budget Committee cleared the way for the funds. The ministries said Russia had intensified attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, citing power outages, unreliable water supplies and the approaching winter as reasons for assistance.
Resources from the development ministry’s emergency fund can support electricity, heating and water measures, schools, kindergartens, agriculture and disaster prevention. The Foreign Office said its humanitarian assistance would prioritize people near the front, internally displaced people and refugees in neighboring countries such as Moldova. The announcement did not specify how the €200 million would be divided between the ministries.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described this as Ukraine’s fifth winter of war. Reuters reported Nov. 5 that Germany had proposed a €100 million package for Ukrainian infrastructure.
