The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Afghanistan announced Monday Russia has contributed $1 million to support nearly 150,000 people with food assistance.

WFP said in a statement that this funding will allow it to buy 1,000 metric tons of food to support 21,000 Afghan families – nearly 150,000 people – with lifesaving food assistance.

“With a large part of the Afghan people in dire need, humanitarian assistance is critical for preserving lives. The unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan necessitates an urgent response. The international community, including major donors, should recognize the imperative for post-conflict reconstruction of Afghanistan,” said Dmitriy A. Zhirnov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation in Afghanistan.

WFP noted that currently, 16 million people – one third of the Afghan population – are going hungry.

“Record levels of food assistance thanks to our generous donors have paid off and helped avert a large-scale humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan,” said Hsiao-Wei Lee, Country Director of WFP in Afghanistan. “Thanks to this assistance and a better harvest, we now see slight improvements, but they remain fragile and could deteriorate quickly and reverse. WFP needs to continue humanitarian food assistance across Afghanistan and in parallel we need to be able to make investments into the productivity and resilience of communities, so that they can break the cycle of dependency.”

Last year, a funding crisis forced WFP to drop 10 million hungry people from food assistance and halve food rations for many to the bare minimum

In 2023, WFP reached a total of 18.6 million people through all of its programmes, 80 percent of whom were women and children. WFP distributed 600,000 metric tons of food and disbursed US$190 million in cash or vouchers to help families meet their food needs.

WFP said that the latest contribution brings Russia’s total contribution to $4 million over three years.