Alliance leader Naomi Long has warned that Northern Ireland's humanitarian response to the war in Ukraine is "hamstrung" by the lack of a functioning Stormont Executive.
The Justice Minister also backed calls for a no-fly zone to stop Russian planes flying over Ukrainian airspace.
Mrs Long said the collapse of the power-sharing Executive a month ago would not "directly impact" on Northern Ireland's ability to accept refugees fleeing Ukraine.
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But she said absence of first and deputy first ministers to "coordinate" measures through their joint department would hinder the humanitarian response.
The DUP pulled Paul Givan out of the First Minister post last month in protest against Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol, forcing the resignation of Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill as Deputy First Minister.
Other ministers remain in place but they can only make some limited decisions as the full five-party Executive cannot meet.
Mrs Long told Belfast Live: "The Executive Office has particular responsibilities for dealing with people who are refugees and obviously they're not there at the moment (the first and deputy first ministers).
“So the department itself is kind of hamstrung because there are no ministers there to make decisions."
Mrs Long also said they were seeking legal advice in a bid to ensure Northern Ireland will be included in UK government plans to strengthen laws against Russian kleptocrats.
Ukraine leaders have appealed to the West to impose a no-fly zone over the country, but the UK government and allies have refused, warning that directly fighting Russian jets would trigger a "war across Europe".
Mrs Long said that economic sanctions were of key importance and diplomatic representations should be continued, but she also expressed support for a no-fly zone.
She said: "I support a no-fly zone in that I think that it's important that we take as many measures as we can.
"I mean at the end of the day a no-fly zone is not an aggressive act, but breaching it is.
"And so I think it is important that, you know, short of actual intervention, I think that we use every possible tool in the toolbox.
"I think though key to all of this is the tools I mentioned earlier, the issue about trying to attack the wealth."
While the UK government is providing military support to Ukraine, the Irish government abstained from contributing to a European Union package providing €450m for lethal equipment.
The Republic instead contributed €9m to a non-lethal EU fund aiding Ukrainian forces, such as helmets and medical equipment.
Mrs Long said she believes Ukraine needs "aid of both kinds" but she respects the Republic's position of neutrality as a militarily non-aligned country.
She added: "I'm not somebody who wants to see war anywhere. I don't want to see people losing their lives, but I think there comes a point where somebody is an aggressor, and where you are leaving people incredibly vulnerable as is the case in Ukraine at the moment, that you have to be willing to step in.
"But I think that all of the sanctions, all of the measures in terms of humanitarian aid, and the aid that's being provided in terms of providing weapons to the Ukrainian forces, I think all of those are an important part of the package in terms of trying to uphold democracy."
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