Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal reaches £12 million in Wales

Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Cymru has announced its Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal has now raised over £12 million in Wales.

The Appeal was launched on 3 March to help people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has raised over £300 million across the UK so far.

The £12 million total for Wales includes a £4 million donation from the Welsh Government while at UK level £300 million includes £25 million of match funding from the UK Government.

Fundraising efforts are ongoing with donations continuing to come in and individuals, companies, schools and arts organisations raising money for the appeal to help families affected by the crisis.

The charity has also announced that £75 million had been budgeted for the response efforts by 13 of its member charities over the first six months to August 2022.

Of this amount, 55% of was confirmed for activity inside Ukraine while 45% has been allocated to neighbouring countries where five million refugees have fled.

Devastating

Speaking via video link from Kyiv, Rachael Cummings, Health Lead for Save the Children in Ukraine said: “What the DEC funds have meant is that we’ve been able to significantly scale up our  existing work in the country. We’re building our response to providing mobile health units, trauma kits, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, nutrition support and safe drinking water to respond to this crisis. We’re particularly concerned about the devastating effect on children and these funds mean that we can ensure that children receive high quality care and support now, and in the months ahead.”

DEC Chief Executive Saleh Saeed said: “DEC charities have been quickly and efficiently scaling up their work to help people inside Ukraine and refugees fleeing over the border. We are seeing the real impact of the work they are doing, whether that is incubators for babies born under bombardment in Ukraine or vital protection work to ensure that vulnerable refugees are kept safe as they flee the conflict.

“We are incredibly grateful to the generous public, to all the inspiring people and organisations that continue to do all they can to support people affected by this devastating conflict.

“We have seen everything from bake sales in small villages to beautiful limited-edition artwork and of course, fundraising Concerts for Ukraine, by ITV and S4C in Wales. It feels as though everyone is doing their bit and more.”

You can donate to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal here…….