UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 25 (APP): Terrified families have been forced to seek shelter underground in Ukraine, including the capital Kiev and other cities, amid deadly missile attacks from the advancing Russian forces, according to the United Nations.
“There have been major attacks in Kiev that have created greater fear and panic among the population, with families really scared, moving alongside their children into subways and shelters, and this is clearly a terrifying moment for children across the country,” said Afshan Khan, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Director, Europe and Central Asia, speaking in Geneva on Friday.
The development follows renewed condemnation for the Russian move by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who on Thursday appealed for peace and allocated $20 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to meet urgent needs.
“The use of force by one country against another is the repudiation of the principles that every country has committed to uphold,” which applied to the military offensive in Ukraine, Guterres insisted.
“It is wrong.It is against the Charter.It is unacceptable.But it is not irreversible.”
Two days since Russia launched military operations inside Ukraine, the UN rights office, OHCHR, confirmed that well over 100 civilians have already been killed.
“We’ve received reports of at least 127 civilian casualties; this includes 25 killed and 102 injured in Ukraine, caused by shelling and airstrikes … this is very likely to be an underestimate,” Ravina Shamdasani, OHCHR spokesperson, said in Geneva.
Communities are already in need of aid relief, too, UN humanitarians warned.
“When we look at shortages, we’re talking about fuel, which has been well reported in the media, we’re talking about cash, because often in humanitarian situations, cash assistance would be our first support to families, so obviously there’s been a drawdown on banks,” UNICEF’s Afshan Khan said.
Echoing that message and in an appeal for guaranteed humanitarian access to the most vulnerable individuals, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted concerns that medical teams face being overwhelmed.
“We don’t have reports yet from the hospitals, when we look to particular injuries and the details of medical,” said Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine.
“Where our focus has been now, is that the pre-positioned medical kits. We will run out of them soon, so what is important currently…is how to ensure new supplies to come and…[That] there are humanitarian corridors from the neighbouring countries available.”
The UN said its agencies had been active in Ukraine for many years, particularly since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 – a move in large part rejected by the international community.
Immediate priorities include assessing what already vulnerable communities need in eastern regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and other oblasts.
“We are still trying to monitor what the situation is vis-a-vis civilian infrastructure,” Ms Khan said.
“As you know, there has been hit of critical infrastructure in the east, particularly in Donbass for some years and they have been cut off, hence the UNICEF water trucking [operations]. In the current scenario we are still trying to see which civilian infrastructure has been hit [and] where.”
Announcing the $20 million emergency funding allocation for the Ukraine crisis, Guterres underscored that the UN and its humanitarian partners were “committed to staying and delivering, to support people in Ukraine in their time of need”.
Forced mass displacement has also begun, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) confirmed.
“There are more than 100,000 who we estimate have lost their homes and are displaced inside [the] country and we are also aware of several thousand who have crossed international borders in the region, and we’ve seen those really just happening since the onset of the situation,” said UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo.
“We’re seeing these reports and we’ve seen for instance yesterday that there were about 5,000 refugee arrivals in Moldova already, but the other movements are being reported in Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the Russian Federation.”
While the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) warned that Ukraine’s people were “terrified of further escalation,” agency spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani flagged concerns inside of Russia.
“Reportedly more than 1,800 were arrested…it’s impossible at this point to know to know exactly how many people there were,” Ms. Shamdasani said, referring to anti-war protesters.
“It is unclear whether some of them have now been released. What we understand is that among those who were arrested were also some journalists, and they were arrested in over 50 cities across Russia.”
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