United Nations has appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine, to allow progress in serious political negotiations, aimed at reaching a peace agreement based on the principles of the United Nations Charter.
UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres disclosed this at his Press encounter on Monday, he said a cessation of hostilities will allow essential humanitarian aid to be delivered and enable civilians to move around safely, saving lives, preventing suffering, and protecting civilians.
Guterres lamented that since the beginning of the Russian invasion one month ago, the war has led to senseless loss of thousands of lives; the displacement of ten million people, mainly women and children; the systematic destruction of essential infrastructure; skyrocketing food and energy prices worldwide.
He said the war must stop, adding that United Nations is doing everything in its power to support people whose lives have been overturned by the war.
"In the past month, beyond their support to refugee hosting countries, our humanitarian agencies and their partners have reached nearly 900,000 people, mainly in eastern Ukraine, with food, shelter, blankets, medicine, bottled water, and hygiene supplies.
"There are now more than 1,000 United Nations personnel in the country, working via eight humanitarian hubs in Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Lviv, Uzhorod, Chernivitzi, Mukachevo, Luhansk and Donetsk.
"The World Food Programme and partners reached 800,000 people in the past month and are scaling up to reach 1.2 million people by mid-April.
"The World Health Organisation and partners have reached more than half a million people in the most vulnerable areas with emergency health, trauma and surgery kits", he added.
UN Chief confirmed that a convoy of trucks brought food, medical and other relief supplies from WFP, WHO, UNHCR, UNICEF to Kharkiv, to be delivered by the UN national partners to thousands of people in hard-hit areas. "Our agencies and partners are procuring vital supplies and setting up pipelines for delivery throughout Ukraine in the coming weeks".
Guterres made it clear that the solution to this humanitarian tragedy is not humanitarian, but political, while hoping that a ceasefire will address the global consequences of this war, which risk compounding the deep hunger crisis in many developing countries that already lack fiscal space to invest in their recovery from the pandemic, and now face soaring food and energy costs.
He strongly appealed to the parties to this conflict, and to international community as a whole, to work with the UN for peace in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and across the world.
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