Flag of SwitzerlandZURICH, Mar 11The Swiss Federal Council (government) at its meeting on Friday decided to allocate 80 million Swiss francs ($86 million) for humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. «In response to the refugee crisis, the Federal Council at its meeting on March 11 decided to increase humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in total complexity of up to 80 million Swiss francs. With this contribution, Switzerland expresses its solidarity with the people of Ukraine in difficult times,» the government said in a statement.The European Commission allocated 300 million euros of emergency assistance to Ukraine The money will be directed to the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, UN agencies, international and local non-governmental organizations and projects implemented by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in Ukraine. According to the government, 21 million francs will be allocated by the Swiss Foreign Ministry, 6 million francs by the Federal Ministry of police. The allocation of 53 million francs must be approved by the country's parliament. Earlier on Friday, the official representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Matthew Saltmarsh, said that the total number of refugees from Ukraine since February 24 exceeded 2.5 million people. According to the UNHCR, the number of refugees from Ukraine may soon reach 4 million people. military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» To this end, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine» bloody crimes against civilians» of Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops, nothing threatens the civilian population. With the support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the DPR and LPR groups are developing an offensive. But the occupation of Ukraine is out of the question, the Russian President emphasized.
