UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : Press Briefing: UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine

so thank you very much for staying with us.

We have the great great pleasure

to welcome at

the press briefing Assistant Secretary General

Dennis Brown.

As you all know, Dennis is the resident and humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine.

We are lucky that she

was available to speak to the Geneva press corps

while in Geneva. So I'll give her the floor immediately for introductory remarks.

And then, of course, we will take questions.

Denise.

Thank you. And, uh and good morning. I would like to really speak to you about Kharkiv

and give you a flavour of what's

happening in in that part of Ukraine

where

there has been a very clear intensification of the war.

Um, over the past, Uh, couple of months

Just to what? You know, when I say that, um

let me explain what I mean.

We have over 100 UN staff in based in the city of Kharkiv. So I'm there quite often.

And my last trip there, Uh, two weeks ago, there were, uh,

12 sirens during the day and 12 explosions.

Right?

So there's a constant, uh, disruption to to daily life in

in the city of of KK, even for the moment. I'm just speaking about

about the city and what's going on there, but I'll expand that to the whole,

to the whole region in in a moment.

I was also there. Uh, I think it's two weeks ago.

11 tends to lose track of time in Ukraine

when the epicentre, which is a huge market supermarket

or hardware market, was hit on a Saturday afternoon by

by missile strike, I was there the next day. I stood in front of

of the remnants of that of that building,

which is at least a city block long and was,

uh, a mass of twisted steel, broken glass and and smoke

so strong 24 hours later that I could still when I left,

smell it on my on my on my hands and and and clothes.

So it's very

It's a very hard reality in in Kharkiv,

in the city for the 1 million more than 1 million people that still live there,

and to give you a sense of how that city has changed.

When I first went there in August 2022 when I arrived in in Ukraine,

it was a city because of the proximity proximity of the front line,

which was pretty much empty.

Uh, walking along the streets. There were few people.

Most businesses were closed, only a few hotels and restaurants were open

and no electricity at night.

Uh, almost two years later,

people on the streets businesses are opened more hotels, restaurants.

It's a city which is trying to reclaim,

uh, reclaim itself and and live despite despite the war

But the intensification, the constant strikes, the relentlessness of it,

uh, which OH HR is is monitoring and issuing reports about does disrupt daily life.

Uh, the Saturday when the when the market was hit it wasn't just the market, it was

a building, Uh, and a park.

So where do you go in Kharkiv that is safe for you and your family?

People aren't leaving the city. That's clear. IOM

monitors population movements within the country. People are holding on

um and so it's important that everyone understand what's going on there.

Secondly, is the impact on the energy infrastructure in Kharkiv.

It's not just in Kharkiv, though. It's in the whole of Ukraine.

When I left last week to attend the Berlin conference

the day before, I left, there was a 10 hour blackout which meant that

up systems also went went down during the course of the day. But in Kharkiv,

it's their constant,

um, blackouts.

Now, of course, we can all manage this during the summer months,

but the anticipation of the very,

very cold winters in Ukraine that are huge concern.

Uh, beginning in October,

Children as you and you've heard the reports.

But probably you haven't gone to the schools in the metro. I have,

um and it's the only way Children can safely study in in the city of of Kharkiv.

Um and you know my initial reaction.

You know,

when I go down with the mayor into the bowels of the metro

and come across classrooms which look like regular classrooms full of Children,

uh, teachers learning science, learning math,

uh, full of the energy and enthusiasm that Children have.

My second thought was, But this isn't normal.

It's not normal that Children have to study

underground

now. Beyond beyond the city, of course, is what's happening in Volans

Wran

is

is a hamada community that we know well, I've been there myself a couple of times.

Is regular humanitarian deliveries and supplies

and services that we provide there.

mandatory evacuations have been taking place according to the the the data that

we have and we're very much we're not part of the evacuations.

That's, uh that's a government decision.

But we are there to receive people with the local national actors

up to 14,000 people.

So we've lost access to an important community like

wans,

um, the people who were displaced from there.

Now, most of them living in the what we call collective centres.

They're not camps, um, in Ukraine, but collective centres,

um, lives lost livelihoods, lost papers, documents

lost. So we are looking at at volans

as

potentially something that will be as destroyed as, um as Bach

has been.

So we're talking about death, displacement, destruction and the lack of access.

It's not a very pretty uh, it's not a very pretty picture.

as I said, the UN has more than 100 staff there. We are determined to stay.

the NGO S National and International also have hundreds of people,

so the assistance is being provided

and OH HR is is documenting what's happening there.

That's on Kharkiv. And I think just on on, um,

on access in general. So, yes, we have lost access to places like, uh Wans

in Kharkiv,

but also important, uh, settlements like Chase

Var and Donetsk, where I've been myself several times.

We are not able to go there anymore. It's not. It's really not safe enough.

We can't get

the necessary authorizations from from the Ukrainian

military because of what is happening there.

Usually we have very, very good access. We're able to go.

It's not easy. I'm not saying it's easy, but I'm saying we're able to go.

But right now we are not.

So as I'm watching this situation unfold and there's an

intensification of the war that's actually what it means.

Daily life disrupted

the people I've met in Chase

Var in Donetsk who were determined to stay in their communities, you know,

including this fabulous woman Olga, 75 years old in Chase

Var, who had worked there for 50 years and who was sort of in charge of the

of the of the local, uh, government workers.

You know, when when I went there the first time she was telling us Well,

you unload your trucks here and this goes there, and this is what we need.

And next time, please do this. Just the most amazing woman

who now is in place that we can't, uh, we can't get to. So

please keep in mind that as as there's

a discussion about the intensification of the war,

the missile strikes the bombs that are being used.

There are people,

um, who are impacted every single day by what's happening in Ukraine,

and you may hear about a missile strike today and you'll forget about it tomorrow.

But understand that the

impact is widespread. People lose their homes, they lose their lives.

Uh, they're injured, business is closed and people have to live in shelters.

So there's a whole ramification about what's going on there.

I'll just finish with the with the energy situation where

I'm sure you're all aware of of what's been happening.

Um, the increasing targeted tax against the energy infrastructure.

Uh, the fact that since the war, at least, uh,

60% of what Ukraine is able to produce has been lost.

There's now, uh, intense efforts

to which the UN is contributing to ensure that the alternate

systems that are required and I'm not the energy specialist,

so

I won't get into what that is are in place before the the winter months.

It's a question of money. It's a question also of accessing

these supplies on the global market

and that there are safe and secure conditions for putting that equipment

where it needs to go to keep the people of Ukraine,

uh, warm over the very, very cold winter months.

So it's not a good picture.

Um, I'm sure what I'm saying is not a surprise to you. However, I do feel that, um,

you know,

we we

all of us need to understand that the the ramifications

for the people of Ukraine of the intensification of the war

Um, the longer it continues, the more suffering, um, there is.

And there's a cumulative impact of, um,

different factors which are combining to make life very difficult,

but and you've heard people say it 100 times thousands of times.

The people of Ukraine are resilient.

Yes, they are very determined, but they also need our support. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Indeed. Denise. Um, OK, let's start with the question.

I see Gabriel Gabriel Tetro. Uh, Reuters.

Uh, thank you. very much for the update.

Um, just a question regarding, uh,

the happenings here in Switzerland this weekend.

Uh, do you plan to attend the peace summit? Uh, in Birkenstock.

And, uh, what kind of outcome would you like to see from this conference? Thank you.

I'm

used

to getting loads of questions.

I think the Secretary General has addressed this question two days ago.

The UN will be present. The UN will be present as observers.

I believe that those attending will be announced this afternoon

from New York.

And I understand that the Secretary General did speak directly to President

Zelensky and the Swiss to explain

that he had a personal commitment

but that the UN will be there.

And that, of course, we continue to advocate for a just peace for Ukraine.

Thank you very much. Nina Larsson

AFP.

Yeah. Sorry.

Also on the conference, I was wondering, um,

if you could say anything about what you would

hope would come out of out of this conference.

I mean, there are a number of issues

on the table. Um,

that, uh,

are that you've been following also, um, you know,

do do you think there's any hope of making progress on the issue of, uh

uh, the displaced or, um,

Children. Thank you.

So the UN is an observer, not not a member state. So we are. We will.

Whoever is going will be in listening mode and again just to

repeat what the Secretary General has said since the very beginning.

This is a violation of the charter.

We hope for a just peace for Ukraine.

And as I've said just repeatedly in my remarks,

the rest of the world should not normalise the war in Ukraine.

It's not because people can find a daily way of

coping and sending Children to a school in the metro.

That this is

that this is a normal situation. But we will see what the summit yields.

Uh, Imogen Fox BBC.

I know you are not confirming or denying your attendance, but you're not in Ukraine.

You're here in Switzerland, so

I think we will draw conclusions from that.

I'm still

I just wonder if you can give us any context

to this because we all think it's kind of weird.

The whole conference is a bit weird, frankly,

but the key items on the agenda are things like food security, energy security,

prisoners of war

and the key humanitarian organisations that deal

with those things and are present in Ukraine

are not really present at this conference

or not with a significant input

at

all.

So one plus one does not always equal two.

And, uh,

I'm only outside of Ukraine because I went to the Berlin recovery conference

and then I was asked to speak to donors this afternoon about,

uh our humanitarian approach in Ukraine, which is why I'm here.

Um so let's see uh, on the rest.

Honestly,

I think you have to speak to the to the organisers as to

why it's those three working groups of the 10 point peace plan.

What Ukrainians hope to get out of this. What the Swiss hope to get out of it

again. We are not an active member. We will you know the UN will be represented.

Secretary General has insisted on that again. He has explained it to President

Zelensky

and to the Swiss organisers and we'll be very

whoever is attending will be very attentively listening.

I think we we exhausted the question on the conference,

uh, other question in the room. Otherwise I'll go to the platform

I don't see in the room. OK, so let's go to John Zarro, Costas, Frans

Van

Katter and the Lancet.

Yes. Uh, good morning.

Uh, I was wondering, uh uh, Ms Brown, if you could, uh,

give us some, uh,

uh details on what the humanitarians are doing to help the large number of, uh,

Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who are suffering

from amputations because of the conflict.

Um, I understand it's over 20,000.

Uh, are the resources sufficient?

And what more is being done to help them? Thank you.

Thank you. It's a very important question.

First of all, though, the humanitarian community focuses on on the civilian part

of the of the impact of the conflict

and our rapid disaster needs assessment, which was done by the government of the UN,

the World Bank and the EU.

We've done unfortunately, had to do three of them since the start of the war.

And the last one was issued in February 2024.

We found a 7% increase in the number of disabled people in Ukraine,

and that's both civilian.

And well, we didn't look at

at who people were. We just looked at the number of,

uh, the percentage increase in those who are disabled.

So this presents a huge immediate challenge to to the country,

but also a longer term.

The immediate challenges are, of course, the physical support

and they're definitely

isn't enough, uh, support for those who have lost limbs.

There's a real need to decentralise that some very good examples.

I'm sure you've heard of the super humans in Lviv, but then, if you go to a place like

Zaria or or Kharkiv,

um, there needs to be a strengthening of the facilities of the capacity.

That's the physical part. The

psychosocial is part which was a very big part of the Berlin Conference.

First of all, I think everyone in that country is going to be including aid workers,

uh,

traumatised by the constant sirens and and explosions

and then which creates this huge sense of

of not knowing what's coming. Um, this is also being addressed, But again,

I think for the moment, uh, it's insufficient.

And the longer term challenges are going to be the reintegration of, uh,

people who are disabled now into economic and social life.

And there's

something we work very closely with WHO.

Uh, in particular in UNICEF is a barrier free environment.

So if you are disabled, how do you get on to that bus?

How do you get into your apartment into a shop?

For the moment, the country, uh, is working on this, but there's still a very,

very long way

to go. Nothing will be resolved now.

It is going to take years for the country to adapt socially, I think economically,

Um, and it's not just the person who is affected who needs support.

It's also the entire family

who then needs to adapt

to support the person who is, uh, immediately affected.

So it's a It's a complicated issue,

one we're putting a lot of emphasis on emphasis on with the government.

WHO and UNICEF

are working very hard on this, but, um,

we're nowhere near where we need to be. This will take a long time.

Thank you very much. Mohammed is

the Turkish News agency. A

aah!

Ok, uh, thank you so much, Alexandra.

My question also will be about the conference, uh, at tomorrow, peace conference.

Uh uh.

As you know, uh, Russia wasn't, uh, invited for this meeting.

Do you think that there can be a basis for negotiation.

Uh, at this summit without Russia. What is your expectation for that? Thank you.

OK, I'm the humanitarian.

That's my job.

We support 11 million people in Ukraine through horrible circumstances.

I am not in charge of organising the peace summit.

I really do think these are important questions

asked of the organisers what their expectations are again

I repeat Secretary General has said the UN

will be there as observer listening very attentively.

And we we hope for just peace for Ukraine in line with the with the UN charter.

Thank you, Maria.

I thought we had exhaust

question. No, we didn't.

OK, so let's see if there are any other questions in the room.

I don't see any or on the platform.

Otherwise, uh I, I don't see any. So thank you so very, very much.

Uh uh a SG Brown for being with us today.

I understand that you have a lot on your plate today, so we let you go.

Thank you for being with us just before

concluding a reminder that on Tuesday after the

holiday the UN holiday we will open the

current the new Council Human Rights Council session at

10 o'clock

to

the High Commissioner for Human Rights will make his presentation.

So be there in room 20. Thank you very much. Have a nice long weekend

working weekend, I believe for many of you and I'll. I'll see you on Tuesday.

Thank you.

Press Briefing: UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine - 14 June 2024