Donors urged to dig deep as Ukraine war hits Syria hard

By LORNE COOK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is making the plight of poverty-stricken Syrians far worse. He’s urging donors to dig deep to help a country wracked by more than a decade of civil war. Borrell spoke as he opened a donor conference on Tuesday. He said “the Russian war will increase food and energy prices and the situation in Syria will become worse.” He says the EU is set to provide an additional $1.1 billion for Syria this year and will stump up $1.65 billion next year. In 2021, donors pledged $6.4 billion to help Syrians and neighboring countries hosting refugees. But that fell well short of the $10 billion that the U.N. had sought.