The relocated municipalities of the Luhansk oblast, currently working in the format of military administrations, urgently need a legal framework for handling humanitarian aid. Most of them have created humanitarian HUBs that process huge amounts of humanitarian aid. Ihor Ahibalov, Head of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Luhansk oblast, told about this in more detail.
According to him, given the systematic nature of the flow of humanitarian aid to Ukraine, the task of local authorities is to distribute it in such a way that no one who needs it is overlooked. Full compliance with the accounting laws and regulations is paramount here, regardless of whether it is a relocated municipality, a municipality in the war zone or along the demarcation line, — the rules are the same for all.
So far, the relocated municipalities of the Luhansk oblast have created 31 humanitarian HUBs. Most of them are in the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Rivne oblasts. According to the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, 11 municipalities joined the establishment of these facilities. Among them, Lysychansk is leading with 6 created HUBs, while Kreminna and Hirske have established 5 each.
“The goal of these HUBs is to provide assistance and necessary services to every resident of the Luhansk oblast, wherever they are in Ukraine. Their mission is big and important, and their functioning requires strict compliance with the law when issuing humanitarian aid. In order to work with system providers, municipalities should introduce local targeted programmes, and it’s worth it,” said Ahibalov.
He reminded that budgetary institutions and self-government organisations cannot be benefactors. A local self-government body as a recipient of aid should ensure that the goods are accounted as humanitarian aid. And to account for them properly, it is necessary to create an appropriate work process. Each community needs an approved general procedure for this.
“Ensure that the evaluation of material values received free of charge are based on the details in the accompanying primary documents or commissions, and keep in mind that the local self-government body and other legal entities and institutions of the municipality (utility companies, municipal non-profit companies, municipal facilities and municipal institutions) are not entitled to create charitable funds,” he said.
As the Head of the Regional Office reaffirmed, U-LEAD continues to provide advisory support to municipalities during the war, so local self-government can ask for expert clarifications on urgent issues of martial law.