Category: Europe

Updating journalists at a regular press briefing, Stéphane Dujarric recounted Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown’s visit over the weekend to Kherson and Mykolaiv where she assessed the humanitarian situation, met with authorities, and monitored the response provided by aid organizations.   She observed that although humanitarians are delivering vital aid, “the needs are immense”.   Making a difference  Ms. Brown saw first-hand how… Read More

“Millions are being plunged into extreme hardship and appalling conditions of life by these strikes”, he said. “Taken as a whole, this raises serious problems under international humanitarian law, which requires a concrete and direct military advantage for each object attacked”. Racking up casualties According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), on Wednesday further missile strikes… Read More

Ms. DiCarlo referred to the latest wave of Russian missile and drone strikes in Ukraine which, she said, terrorized the citizens of several cities (Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia). With winter approaching, the attacks, she said, “renew fears that this winter will be catastrophic for millions of Ukrainians, who face the prospect of months of frigid weather with… Read More

In a statement issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that that blasts yesterday evening and again this morning further underlined “the urgent need for measures to help prevent a nuclear accident there”. “As I have said many times before, you’re playing with fire!”. Renewed shelling In what appeared to be renewed shelling… Read More

Viktoriya Hrubas is a Public Information Officer with the UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, and she’s been giving her firsthand account of what it has been like to serve, and suffer, alongside her fellow Ukrainians. © UNOCHA/Matteo Minasi “Nobody is prepared to go through war”, she admits, despite her wide experience as a humanitarian providing emergency aid to those in… Read More

Russian missiles and drones have rained down on several cities, including the capital, Kyiv, she reported, destroying or damaging homes and severely disrupting critical services.  “I must say it again: attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international humanitarian law,” she stressed.  ‘No end in sight’  Meanwhile, military dynamics on the ground continue to evolve.   Ms. DiCarlo… Read More

Matilda Bogner, Head of the UN’s human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, said that, over the past few months, her team had interviewed 159 prisoners of war – or POWs – both men and women, held by Russia, and 175 male prisoners of war held by Ukraine.  Ukraine gave the mission access to Russian POWs where they were being held.… Read More

Aid workers brought food, water, hygiene kits, shelter materials and critical household items, such as bedding, thermal blankets and solar lamps, to more than 6,000 people in the city, which returned to Ukrainian control last Friday after Russian troops withdrew. Russian forces have occupied Kherson since March, capturing the city in the first weeks of the war. So far, it… Read More

Nearly 50 nations co-sponsored the resolution on establishing an international mechanism for compensation for damage, loss and injury, as well as a register to document evidence and claims.  The General Assembly is the UN’s most representative body, comprising all 193 Member States.  Ninety-four countries voted in favour of the resolution, and 14 against, while 73 abstained.  The vote took place… Read More

“Since February, aid workers have provided critical aid and protection services to some 13.5 million people across all regions of Ukraine”, Associate Spokesperson Stéphanie Tremblay told journalists at a regular briefing in New York. She added that more than 4.2 million people have received cash assistance over the past eight months and that markets are reopening, as the Government works… Read More