Harris announces additional humanitarian aid for Ukraine

Vice President Harris on Thursday announced more than $50 million in additional humanitarian assistance for people displaced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The vice president, during a trip to Warsaw, Poland, announced the U.S. would provide nearly $53 million through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The funding will specifically go toward the United Nations World Food Program, providing food for those fleeing Ukraine or displaced from their homes.

The additional funding announced by Harris is in addition to nearly $54 million in humanitarian assistance the U.S. has provided for health supplies, blankets and other aid as Ukrainians seek to leave the country or have seen their homes and neighborhoods destroyed by military attacks.

U.S. officials estimate two million people have fled Ukraine due to the Russian invasion, and at least 12 million are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ukraine.

“The United States continues to stand with the people of Ukraine and will continue to work to meet immediate needs and save lives,” the vice president’s office said in a statement.

Harris is in the middle of a trip to Poland and Romania in a show of support with NATO allies after Russia invaded Ukraine last month. 

In a press conference alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda, Harris condemned Russian attacks on civilian areas in Ukraine — calling them “atrocities of unimaginable proportion” — including the strike on a maternity hospital in the city of Mariupol.   

Harris affirmed U.S. support for its NATO allies, and she announced that two Patriot missile-defense systems that the U.S. had promised to send to Poland had been delivered.