Switzerland to send fifth aid consignment to the conflict zone in Ukraine

Press releases, 01.09.2016

Swiss Humanitarian Aid is preparing a further consignment of aid supplies needed by the population on both sides of the contact line in eastern Ukraine. This time it will transport 3,500 tonnes of quartz sand to the region for filtering water. The sand will be transported by train and leave western Ukraine at the weekend. It will be handed over in Donetsk a week later.

Switzerland sends fifth aid consignment to the conflict zone in Ukraine. © SDC
Swiss Humanitarian Aid sends a new aid consignment for treating water in eastern Ukraine. © SDC

In the coming days the sand will be loaded onto approximately 50 wagons and shipped to the Donbas waterworks near Donetsk, starting this weekend. This amount of sand is enough for treating water needed by the some two million people living on both sides of the contact line for approximately one year.

The transport train will be accompanied and monitored by members of Swiss Humanitarian Aid, which is part of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) and other experts from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

The current consignment is the fifth that Switzerland has sent to the conflict region since spring 2015. So far, the SDC is the only state actor organising shipments of humanitarian aid for the benefit of the population on both sides of the contact line in eastern Ukraine.


Address for enquiries:

Information FDFA
Bundeshaus West
CH-3003 Bern
Tel.: +41 58 462 31 53
Fax: +41 58 464 90 47
E-Mail: info@eda.admin.ch


Publisher:

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs