MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - The EU countries should provide further assistance to people of eastern Ukraine and expand humanitarian aid, German Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Muller said Wednesday.
“International community and Europe must provide more significant help to civilians in eastern Ukraine, who are infinitely grateful for this,” Muller said in an interview with Deutschlandradio.
The minister added that the humanitarian aid recently sent by Germany to Ukraine was not enough.
“We need coordinated efforts of all 28 EU member countries,” he stated.
Muller expressed hope that the new European Commission president would pay a lot of attention toward the refugee problem in the crisis-hit country, and stated that if the EU countries do not help Ukraine, it would simply be “shameful.”
Muller welcomes Russia’s help provided for eastern Ukrainian regions, and highlighted that cooperation with Russia is also important in terms of finding solutions to current problems in Syria and Iraq.
In October, following Gerd Muller's initiative, German government sent to Ukraine about 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid from 17 German cities. The aid included building materials, space heaters, blankets and rollaway beds.
Additional 3 billion euros (approximately $3.8 billion) donated by Germany would be used to buy necessary goods for displaced people in Ukraine. The aid will be distributed primarily between Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mariupol, Zaporizhia, and Slaviansk.
