Austria continues assisting war-hit Ukrainians in new aid package

The Austrian government decided to allocate another EUR €18 million euros to help Ukrainians affected by the Russian invasion.

The announcement came from the country's Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler on Tuesday, 20 June, reports European Pravda, citing the Austrian news agency APA.

€18 million will be allocated from the foreign disaster fund of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the accounts of organisations working with affected Ukrainian citizens.

According to the Austrian Foreign Ministry, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross will receive EUR €6 million each.

Another €4 million will go to the UN Children's Fund and €2 million to the UN Population Fund.

Thanks to these funds, people in Ukraine and Moldova, which hosted a large number of displaced persons from Ukraine, should receive support.

In this way, Austria's bilateral financial support to Ukraine will exceed €150 million.

Schellenberg will also attend a conference on Ukraine's recovery in London on Wednesday 21 June.

In May, following a fierce debate, the Austrian government announced funding for mine clearance equipment in Ukraine, totalling €2 million.

The Ukrainian side has previously asked Austria to help with mine clearance efforts. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this, among other things, during his address to members of the lower chamber of the Austrian parliament.