GENEVA: The United Nations needs $4.2 billion this year to provide humanitarian aid in Ukraine and to refugees who have fled, but feared a likely shortfall as the Gaza war dominates global attention.

Russia’s war in Ukraine is set to enter its third year in February and the UN said it was vital to maintain support, despite competing crises.

The UN hopes to reach 8.5 million people within Ukraine and 2.3 million refugees and their host communities in eastern Europe in 2024.

“Remember Ukraine?” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths asked as he launched the plan in Geneva.

“Please do not forget Ukraine while there are many other places in the world which grab our attention. “As we go into 2024, the competition for funding is going to be more,” he acknowledged, citing the “considerable” costs of the Gaza conflict.

For Ukrainians, “humanitarian aid remains the lifeline, without which they will perish”, Griffiths stressed.

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was the biggest invasion of a European country since World War II and triggered the largest refugee crisis the continent has faced since the 1939-1945 conflict.

Newspakistan.tv/APP/AFP