Edited News | OCHA , WHO , UNCTAD , FAO
Ukraine: aid convoy reaches war-battered Kharkiv, Mariupol fears remain
Urgently needed aid supplies have reached the embattled Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, amid reports that people are facing “life-and-death decisions” on whether to leave Mariupol and elsewhere, more than a month since the Russian invasion.
On Monday, relief reached “the hard-battered” city of Kharkiv in north-eastern Ukraine “and safely delivered food rations, medical supplies and household items for thousands of people,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian coordinating office, OCHA.
To the south, in Mariupol and other Ukrainian locations that have been encircled and pummelled by indiscriminate shelling, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that he the crisis was “deepening…the level of death, destruction and suffering that we are witnessing and that is being inflicted on civilians is abhorrent and unacceptable”.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, ICRC spokesperson Ewan Watson reiterated serious concerns about civilians who have no safe means of escape, and who have faced constant shelling, while also lacking running water and other essentials.
According to OCHA, around 90 per cent of Mariupol’s residential buildings – some 2,600 homes – have been affected by active fighting.
Some 60 per cent of buildings have suffered various degrees of damage from direct shelling, while about 40 per cent have been completely destroyed. Local authorities say the rising civilian death toll is fast-approaching 5,000 people.
“Today civilians are taking life-and-death decisions to flee when there is no ceasefire or other agreements in place that will allow them to leave safely,” said ICRC’s Mr. Watson. “Time is running out for citizens in Mariupol and in other frontline areas who have now gone for weeks with no humanitarian assistance.”
In Kharkiv, where Monday’s UN aid convoy was led by the UN’s top aid official in Ukraine, Osnat Lubrani, the supplies will now be distributed by the Ukrainian Red Cross to the most vulnerable communities in the city, as well as the hard-to-reach suburbs Izium, Balakliia and Chuhuiv.
“There are UNICEF supplies for 6,000 people, UNHCR items for 500 households that include things such as solar lamps, tarpaulins and blankets, WFP food rations for 3,325 people for two weeks, WHO supplies to care for 10,000 primary health care patients for three months, and supplies to treat trauma patients,” said OCHA spokesperson Mr. Laerke.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, he noted that the city’s municipal authorities had reported “that more than 1,140 buildings have been destroyed since the military offensive began” on 24 February. “Of these, nearly 1,000 are residential buildings. This raises serious concerns about both the shelter and protection needs of people.”
Highlighting the risks faced by medical workers and patients in Ukraine, Dr Jarno Habicht, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Ukraine, said that there have now been “74 attacks with 72 deaths and 40 injuries in the period of 24 February until 25 March…These attacks are against hospitals, ambulances.”
Dr Habicht confirmed that medical goods were “much-needed in the facilities where the doctors and nurses are doing much of the work, almost 24/7 in these very difficult circumstances”.
Equally worrying are fears that Ukrainians may soon be facing serious food insecurity because of the ongoing conflict, which has already disrupted livelihoods during the agricultural growing season.
The alert from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) follows assessments in 19 of Ukraine’s 24 oblasts, or regions, which indicated that it was uncertain whether Ukraine could harvest crops, plant new ones or sustain livestock production.
“An immediate and worrying finding is that food shortages are expected immediately or in the next three months in over 40 per cent of the surveyed areas and cases,” said Rein Paulsen, FAO Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience.
“When it comes to the all-important production of vegetables, conflict is likely to severely disrupt production for tens of thousands of smallholder farmers, those who have decided to stay behind.”
To help support the relief effort, FAO has appealed for $50 million but it is only 10 per cent funded.
Nonetheless, it has been possible to support more than 14,600 farming families by providing them with more than 740 tonnes of urgently needed seed for planting, Mr. Paulsen explained.
ends
STORY: Ukraine Update – WHO, OCHA, FAO, ICRC
TRT: 3 mins 05s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 29 March 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Institutionalised forced labour by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea constitutes grave violations of human rights – UN report
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Time is running out for starving civilians in Sudan, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday, while talks involving the country’s warring parties continue in Geneva this week.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC faces a severe humanitarian crisis with 25M in need and rising conflict-related issues.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
A gimmer of good news emerged from Gaza on Tuesday as patients returned to at a newly reopened UN health centre in Khan Younis, six months after it was severely damaged and forced to close by heavy fighting, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN condemns attacks on Kyiv hospitals, calls for immediate action to protect civilians.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
In Gaza, soaring temperatures, hunger and unsanitary conditions present an ever more deadly threat to a population under constant attack, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WMO , IFRC
Hurricane Beryl smashes into Caribbean, turns sights on Mexico As Hurricane Beryl’s destructive path shifted to Mexico on Friday after roiling the Caribbean, UN agencies and partners said that the emergency response was underway, before warning that a very long and damaging hurricane season looks increasingly likely.
1
1
2
Edited News | IOM , mcc , UNHCR
Refugees and migrants continue to face extreme forms of violence, exploitation and death on sea and on land across Africa as they attempt to leave the continent, UN agencies said on Friday, in an appeal to border authorities to do more to protect them.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk at the 56th Human Rigths Council, made the following update on the situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
New evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army for areas in southern Gaza are expected to impact 250,000 people, including eastern Khan Younis and Rafah, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: People are desperate, they need everything, says UN aid agency Panic and desperation now grip ordinary Gazans struggling to survive, UN humanitarians said on Friday, amid fuel shortages of fuel and dwindling supplies that have prevented aid teams from doing their job.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
UN aid teams and partner organizations remain deeply committed to delivering lifesaving supplies into Gaza, despite the increasing dangers of working there, the Organization’s top aid official said on Wednesday.