Ukraine Crisis- AP

Lack of aid deepens suffering in conflict-hit east Ukraine

The Associated Press - By By MSTYSLAV CHERNOV and PETER LEONARD - Associated Press

41 minutes ago

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  People queue to receive humanitarian aid from the charitable foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of Donetsk coal-rich region, in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015. Akhmetov is contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by much of the impoverished local population. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions. Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holidays of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces of preventing the Akhmetov convoys from getting through. The battalion justified their actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help to support the separatist cause, Amnesty says. (AP Photo/ Mstyslav Chernov)

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  In this Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 photo, Maria Ivanovna, no family name given, unpacks humanitarian aid she received from the charitable foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of Donetsk coal-rich region, at her house at the outskirts of Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine. Akhmetov is contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by much of the impoverished local population. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions. Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holidays of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces of preventing the Akhmetov convoys from getting through. The battalion justified their actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help to support the separatist cause, Amnesty says. (AP Photo/ Mstyslav Chernov)

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  In this Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 photo, Maria Ivanovna, no family name given, unpacks humanitarian aid she received from the charitable foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of Donetsk coal-rich region, at her house at the outskirts of Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine. Akhmetov is contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by much of the impoverished local population. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions. Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holidays of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces of preventing the Akhmetov convoys from getting through. The battalion justified their actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help to support the separatist cause, Amnesty says. (AP Photo/ Mstyslav Chernov)

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  People queue to receive humanitarian aid from the charitable foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of Donetsk coal-rich region, in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015. Akhmetov is contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by much of the impoverished local population. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions. Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holidays of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces of preventing the Akhmetov convoys from getting through. The battalion justified their actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help to support the separatist cause, Amnesty says. (AP Photo/ Mstyslav Chernov)

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  In this Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 photo, Maria Ivanovna, no family name given, unpacks humanitarian aid she received from the charitable foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of Donetsk coal-rich region, at her house at the outskirts of Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine. Akhmetov is contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by much of the impoverished local population. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions. Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holidays of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces of preventing the Akhmetov convoys from getting through. The battalion justified their actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help to support the separatist cause, Amnesty says. (AP Photo/ Mstyslav Chernov)

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  In this Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 photo, Maria Ivanovna, no family name given, unpacks humanitarian aid she received from the charitable foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of Donetsk coal-rich region, at her house at the outskirts of Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine. Akhmetov is contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by much of the impoverished local population. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions. Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holidays of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces of preventing the Akhmetov convoys from getting through. The battalion justified their actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help to support the separatist cause, Amnesty says. (AP Photo/ Mstyslav Chernov)

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  People queue to receive humanitarian aid from the charitable foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of Donetsk coal-rich region, in Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015. Akhmetov is contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by much of the impoverished local population. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions. Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holidays of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces of preventing the Akhmetov convoys from getting through. The battalion justified their actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help to support the separatist cause, Amnesty says. (AP Photo/ Mstyslav Chernov)

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  In this Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 photo, Maria Ivanovna, no family name given, unpacks humanitarian aid she received from the charitable foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of Donetsk coal-rich region, at her house at the outskirts of Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine. Akhmetov is contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by much of the impoverished local population. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions. Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holidays of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces of preventing the Akhmetov convoys from getting through. The battalion justified their actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help to support the separatist cause, Amnesty says. (AP Photo/ Mstyslav Chernov)

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  In this Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 photo, Maria Ivanovna, no family name given, unpacks humanitarian aid she received from the charitable foundation of Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose vast wealth is founded on the industrial output of Donetsk coal-rich region, at her house at the outskirts of Donetsk, Eastern Ukraine. Akhmetov is contentious figure in eastern Ukraine. Although a major provider of employment, he is regarded with profound suspicion by much of the impoverished local population. Still, his standing improves with every consignment of goods that reaches separatist-held regions. Amnesty International said it received reports before the New Year holidays of volunteer battalions fighting alongside Ukrainian government forces of preventing the Akhmetov convoys from getting through. The battalion justified their actions by arguing that the food and clothes in the trucks could ultimately help to support the separatist cause, Amnesty says. (AP Photo/ Mstyslav Chernov)

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DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Valentina Dudareva's voice cracks with despair as she stands in the snow, surveying the bombed-out windows of her apartment block in Donetsk, the separatist capital in eastern Ukraine.

Cold, poor and hungry, Dudareva is among the masses of people trapped by fighting between the government and Russian-backed militias, reliant on outside help that often fails to arrive. More than six months have passed since Dudareva last received her pension — and the Russian food aid packages so trumpeted by rebel authorities are nowhere to be seen.

Anger she once reserved for the Ukrainian armed forces shelling the city is now directed at the separatist government.

"They tell us: 'Go to the theater. There are tickets for sale!'" Dudareva said, dabbing a handkerchief to her cheek. "But I want to eat. I want my pension."

The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has been sounding the alarm over a daily worsening crisis across the region, where fighting has raged since April.

"Thousands of people are highly vulnerable and in need of assistance," the OCHA said last week. "Along with financial problems, many lack the ability to buy essential food and medicines and are living in frigid winter conditions."

The OHCA estimates 1.4 million people in eastern Ukraine are highly vulnerable and require assistance.

Help is thin on the ground, although it is often promised.

Since the summer, Russia has dispatched 11 columns of large white aid trucks with food and other basic supplies. The latest arrived in Donetsk one week after New Year's, carrying tinned goods, building material and — too late for Christmas — festive fir trees.

Despite the urgency of the crisis, the Donetsk headquarters of the Recovery Coordination Center are largely deserted. A spokesman for the center sits in a sparse office with a bare desk, no computer in sight.

2015 The Associated Press

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