Please refer to the attached file.
INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND
Since February 24th the relations between Russian Federation and Ukraine escalated to armed conflict, with a massive incursion of Russian armed forces (including shell artillery) on the Ukrainian territory. While the Ukrainian army is mobilized into preventing Russian forces from advancing in Ukrainian territory, casualties among civilians are being reported and several thousand Ukrainian families are fleeing their residence towards the western board of the country that neighbors with Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Belarus. Hundreds of Ukrainians are managing to cross the border of those countries and it is expected that the numbers grow in the next few days. Worth noting that most of the neighboring countries to Ukraine have not coped with an emergency in decades and hence feel ill equipped to face the demands of a humanitarian situation, including their capacities to respond to psycho-social needs of migrants and refugees. In addition, UN partners presence in some of those neighboring countries is minimal, with WHO being the main UN agency with operational relationships with the countries. The MHPSS sub Working Group will operate under the coordination framework of the Protection and Health clusters under the leadership of UNHCR and WHO respectively.