Ukraine’s President establishes Humanitarian and Social Affairs Coordination Headquarters led by Yermak

Kateryna Tyshchenko – Thursday, 3 March 2022, 02:25

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has established a Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian and Social Affairs. It will help citizens that find themselves in difficult circumstances as a result of the Russian military aggression.  

Source: Presidential decree

Details: Due to the Russian military invasion, the humanitarian situation in some Ukrainian cities and villages has become extremely difficult. Many people have lost their homes or been left without access to water, food, medicine, and basic necessities. 

To effectively provide aid to the affected citizens, the President has set up a Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian and Social Affairs, which will promptly coordinate volunteer initiatives, international humanitarian organisations, and funds from the specially created National Bank account for humanitarian aid. 

The Headquarters will have three focus areas:

• Humanitarian aid from foreign governments and international organisations;
• Business aid for military administrations and citizens;
• Government aid for military administrations and citizens.

The Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak has been appointed as the Head of the Coordination Headquarters.

The Headquarters staff include Deputy Head of the President’s Office for Social Policy and Health, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, one representative each from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Social Policy. The work of the Coordination Headquarters will be covered by Advisor to the Head of the President’s Office for Communications Daria Zarivna.

According to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers must ensure prompt cooperation between representatives of regional military administrations and the Coordination Headquarters. The government should also establish effective cooperation with diplomatic missions and consular posts of foreign states, international organisations, and foreign donors concerning the provision of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. It was recommended that the National Bank should open a special account to raise funds for humanitarian aid to persons in difficult life circumstances in connection with the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. 

The decree shall enter into force on the day of its publication.