Ukraine

The Government of the Russian Federation commenced a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after mobilizing hundreds of thousands of military forces and heavy weaponry near its border with Ukraine and subsequently launching widespread attacks. On the same day, USAID announced the activation of a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to lead the U.S. Government humanitarian response to the crisis in Ukraine, with staff in Rzeszów, Poland; Budapest, Hungary; Chișinău, Moldova; and Bratislava, Slovakia. To support the DART, USAID activated a Response Management Team (RMT) in Washington, D.C.

The Government of the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion marked a major escalation of conflict in Ukraine, where fighting in the country’s eastern oblasts had caused large-scale population displacement and widespread damage to infrastructure since March 2014. The heaviest fighting has occurred in the easternmost oblasts bordering Russia, particularly Donetsk and Luhansk; however, the large influx of internally displaced persons from these areas has also impacted neighboring oblasts. The UN estimates that 5.4 million people were internally displaced and 17.6 million people required humanitarian assistance across Ukraine as of January 2023.

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