Pope grants 6 million euros to victims of crisis in Ukraine

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 23 (ANSA) - The Vatican will donate 6 million euros to those affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the Pontifical Council Cor Unum said on Friday. The money will be sent to 2 million people, regardless of religion or ethnicity, mainly from the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia, Kharkov and Dnipro. In April, Francis announced that churches in Europe had collected an "extraordinary" sum to fund projects to assist people living in war zones.

The Holy See, through the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, has set up a committee with Ukrainian religious to coordinate donations. Since the beginning of activities, in July, the committee selected and evaluated the assistance projects of Christian charities and international agencies. Now, the committee will finance 20 large-scale projects, each of up to 250,000 euros, and 39 solidarity initiatives of up to 20,000 euros each. The resources will be divided into services and products, such as medicines, housing, food and hygiene.

According to a recent assessment by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), the conflict in Ukraine left, from April 2014 to December 1, 2016, 9,758 dead and nearly 23,000 injured. (ANSA)