Category: Europe

In a Tweet, the UN Secretary-General declared that it is absolutely essential to establish a pause in the fighting that continues unabated in Ukraine, to allow for the safe passage of civilians from all conflict zones, and also to ensure that life-saving humanitarian aid, such as the UN supplies that began arriving on Saturday, can move in to help those… Read More

Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, said that every effort must be taken to prevent a catastrophic nuclear incident. Attacks on nuclear facilities are contrary to international humanitarian law. And what we are witnessing in #Ukraine is inconsistent with the principles of the @UN Charter. The fighting must stop immediately. https://t.co/HO3T30ioLo — Rosemary A. DiCarlo (@DicarloRosemary) March 4,… Read More

Mr Awad, who is in the country with his team, attempting to find ways to scale up humanitarian operations, said in a statement that his immediate aim was to “urgently prioritize geographical areas, and sectors, where there are pressing humanitarian needs to scale up the delivery of lifesaving aid”, in extremely challenging circumstances. The Crisis Coordinator welcomed the outcome of… Read More

“500,000 children have been forced to flee their homes in just seven days… unprecedented in scale and speed,” James Elder, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said via video link from Lviv in western Ukraine. “As fighting continues of course last night, thousands of children spent another night in freezing and terrifying – terrified – in bunkers under siege.… Read More

Ukraine has long been the “breadbasket” of Europe, but the fighting could disrupt global wheat trade, with knock-on impacts on food prices and overall food security.   #HappeningNow for the people of #Ukraine: massive @WFP scale-up in action. When you’re ramping up to feed 3-5 million people, it takes LOTS of food being purchased inside/outside the country, LOTS of convoys rolling… Read More

Thirty-two countries voted in favour of the resolution, which was presented by Ukraine.  Russia and Eritrea voted against it, while 13 nations abstained.  #HRC49 | The @UN🇺🇳 Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling for the “swift and verifiable” withdrawal of #Russian🇷🇺 troops and Russian-backed armed groups from the entire territory of #Ukraine🇺🇦. Watch the video of the adoption of… Read More

More than half have headed west to Poland, according to a new UNHCR operational data portal that is keeping track of refugee arrivals in neighbouring countries.  Others have found shelter in Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and beyond. Nearly 43,000 have also moved to the Russian Federation. Deciding to leave  As the conflict intensifies, families have been escaping Ukraine any way… Read More

“I have worked in refugee emergencies for almost 40 years, and rarely have I seen an exodus as rapid as this one,” he remarked.   “And unless there is an immediate end to the conflict, millions more are likely to be forced to flee Ukraine.”  Commitment to stay  Mr. Grandi reported that staff from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, remain… Read More

Initial concerns about a lack of medicines to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes, gave way on Wednesday to an alert from the World Health Organization (WHO) that “people will die” if they do not get oxygen and other supplies for urgent emergency care.  Heart-wrenching scenes  “Some of us have been in this game a long time and we’ve developed… Read More

Known informally as the world’s “town hall”, the Assembly is where all 193 UN Member States have a voice. A total of 141 countries voted in favour of the resolution, which reaffirms Ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.  Today’s #UNGA resolution reflects a central truth: The world wants an end to the tremendous human suffering in Ukraine. I will continue… Read More