People in Need can no longer provide vital humanitarian aid in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine

"We have fulfilled every prerequisite required by the local authorities and no official reason was given for the refusal to grant us accreditation," said director of People in Need Šimon Pánek. "Together with the UN's humanitarian agencies and ten other international humanitarian organisations which have been prohibited from conducting activities in Luhansk, we are asking the local authorities to ensure access to humanitarian aid for the residents and to adhere to international standards of human rights."

"Infrastructure near the front lines was destroyed in the fighting," said aid coordinator for Ukraine Tomáš Kocián. "The water distribution systems do not work and people do not have access to safe drinking water – they are dependent on the distribution of water in tanks. Thousands of homes were completely destroyed or damaged and with winter approaching, people need to do basic repairs to the roofs of their houses and to install or replace windows. As a result of increased food prices, for many people even basic foods are unobtainable."

According to the UN, the decision on the de facto expulsion of international humanitarian organisations and UN agencies will affect up to 3 million inhabitants. The interruption in the provision of aid by ten of the 11 international organisations will mean that 16,000 tons of humanitarian aid, including food and materials to repair war-damaged buildings, will not be delivered to the people who need it, the UN says. "Hospitals will not be able to perform surgeries due to lack of anaesthetics, patients will not get their insulin or tuberculosis vaccines. A hundred and fifty thousand people will not get food aid and 1.3 million people will lose access to safe drinking water," the UN stated in a press release. "The suspension of humanitarian operations in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions from mid-July puts the most vulnerable groups, including children, women and the elderly, at grave risk," said the head of UN humanitarian operations, Stephen O'Brien.

As a result of the official decision, People in Need will not deliver 55,000 food packages for people in the front lines, will end support for ten community centres which fed several thousand people daily, and more than 2,000 households will not receive building materials to repair their homes. "This decision was very poorly timed, because these organisations helped people prepare for the cold weather, supplied them with fuel and carried out vital repairs before the onset of winter," said Kocián. "Without them people will freeze."

People in Need has been working in eastern Ukraine in government- and separatist-controlled areas since August 2014. It has so far provided food or food ration cards to 142,000 people, provided material to repair houses to more than 24,000 people and ensured supplies of drinking water for 129,000 people. It has also provided psychosocial support to more than 5,500 children.