The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a food assistance programme for people affected by the current conflict with distributions in transit centres and public shelters in Donetsk and Luhansk in the country's east, a UN spokesperson said Friday.
The WFP kicked off the relief operation following a request from the Ukrainian government, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a daily press briefing here, Xinhua reported.
"Since the beginning of September, WFP and its local partners have so far distributed 10,000 daily rations, enough to feed 2,000 people for five days. It plans to scale up its operations before the end of the month."
"Those being assisted are mainly internally displaced people with serious medical conditions, pregnant women, nursing mothers and the elderly as well as large families," he said.
"WFP has procured food locally to try to inject money into the local economy. It will launch a food voucher project to allow people to purchase food in their own communities."
"The fighting in the last few months, primarily in the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk and surrounding areas, has significantly disrupted access to food and basic services," said Carlo Scaramella, WFP deputy regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and East Europe, in a press release.
Scaramella said that while many have remained in these areas, thousands of other families have fled their homes at short notice, often without anything even for the journey.
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By mid-October, up to 10,000 displaced people will receive WFP' s food vouchers -- worth nearly $500,000 -- allowing them to choose and purchase food available in their own communities.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has officially counted over 310,000 internally displaced people in Ukraine. The total number may be at least double that.
While a fragile ceasefire is now in place in the eastern region, the WFP said that the situation remains extremely volatile and unpredictable. The UN agency and its partners are preparing to increase their assistance in view of recent fighting in the southern coast around Novoazovsk and Mariupol as winter is approaching.