The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will allocate a total of 31 million euros for humanitarian aid to Ukraine and other neighboring countries, such as Poland and Moldova, as reported yesterday the head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, during his official visit to Warsaw.
According to the Ministry in a press release, Ukraine will receive 23 million euros corresponding to this humanitarian aid package, which will be channeled through the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID), while the remaining eight million will be allocated to other countries in the area.
In this regard, Albares indicated in Warsaw that this “unprecedented” humanitarian aid package of 31 million euros will go to Ukraine and the countries hosting the most refugees, such as Poland and Moldova. “Spain wants to help the more than 2.5 million refugees, as many as there were in the 1990s in the Balkan war,” he added, in statements to the Efe agency. The Spanish government has so far sent two shipments of humanitarian aid to Poland, where medicines and medical supplies worth almost 400,000 euros have arrived. In addition, Albares made a commitment this Wednesday in Moldova to take in a thousand Ukrainian refugees who have fled to this country in the centers set up in Barcelona, Madrid and Alicante.
The 31 million euro package includes the dispatch, in the coming days, of a convoy with 30 tons of humanitarian aid to Moldova and a second delivery to Ukraine of medicines and medical supplies worth almost one million euros, in coordination with the Ministry of Health. Further direct aid is planned as the needs of Ukraine and the weaker neighboring countries become clearer.
Contributions will also be made to international organizations, such as OCHA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), for 25 million euros for the care of the internally displaced and refugee population, in response to appeals made by the organizations themselves. In addition, one million euros will be allocated to the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) to cover various emergencies, with special attention to vulnerable people.
This humanitarian action plan also provides for support to Spanish NGOs, for which three million euros will be reserved within the framework of an extraordinary call for grants for humanitarian action projects in the field. In addition, and at the request of the Autonomous Communities signatories of the decentralized cooperation agreement with the AECID for joint and coordinated action in the field of humanitarian action, it has been agreed to make contributions from the contingency fund provided for in this agreement.
Given the magnitude of the military operation, it is estimated that at least 12 million people will require humanitarian assistance in the coming weeks. The priority sectors on which Spain’s humanitarian aid is focused are health, food security and nutrition, water and sanitation, and protection and shelter. It will also work on education, livelihoods and logistics, coordination and communication.
Albares in Poland
On the other hand, José Manuel Albares traveled yesterday to Warsaw as part of his two-day tour of Moldova and Poland to learn about the situation of Ukrainian refugees on the ground. The Minister’s visit to Poland began on Wednesday afternoon, when he attended a briefing given by officials of UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Polish humanitarian organizations, and visited the refugee reception center in Przemysl, in the southeast of the country, where the first aid is provided to Ukrainians who cross the border before traveling to other destinations. The Minister also toured the border area with Ukraine, where more than two million people have already crossed the border seeking refuge, and met at the Medyka border crossing with members of the Spanish GEO who collaborate in the security work and held a briefing with the Polish Border Guard.
In Warsaw, the Minister held a meeting with businessmen at the headquarters of the Spanish Embassy in Warsaw (Poland), made a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Pilsudski Square, visited the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial, where he paid tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, and was received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zbigniew Rau, whom he thanked for “Poland’s role in welcoming refugees and the support provided in the evacuation of Spanish citizens,” the minister said via his official Twitter account. “Poland can count on Spain in its key role in this crisis,” he added. Likewise, Albares highlighted in his meeting with Rau the intense bilateral relations between Spain and Poland, as well as the common effort that both countries are carrying out, as NATO partners and allies, to face the “illegal, unjust and unjustified aggression of Ukraine by Russia”.
On the other hand, Albares assured, in statements to La Sexta, that the Spanish journalist Pablo González, who has been detained for more than two weeks by the Polish authorities under the formal accusation of being an agent of Russian military intelligence, is “in good condition” and is receiving consular assistance. “The consul has gone to visit him personally as I requested, has spoken to his wife on several occasions, and is in contact with his lawyer,” added the minister, who specified that he would address this matter during his meeting with Rau.
