The losses inflicted on the agricultural sector of Ukraine as a result of the war amount to $4 billion to $6 billion, representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Viktoria Mykhalchuk has said.
“Preliminary estimates from June indicate that the losses inflicted on the agricultural sector as a result of the war are between $4 billion and $6 billion, including damage to infrastructure such as irrigation equipment, storage facilities, shipping and processing infrastructure, greenhouses, field crops, and farm animals,” Mykhalchuk said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center in Kyiv on Friday.
She noted that this year, according to FAO estimates, Ukraine expects to harvest up to 51 million tonnes of grain.
“Given the areas that were directly affected by the war, only 61 million tonnes of the total of 75 million storage facilities are physically accessible. Some 14% are damaged or destroyed, and 10% are located on the territory occupied by Russia,” Mykhalchuk said.
According to her, of the available storage facilities, 35% remain filled with 22 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds, which are awaiting export.
“That is, only 65% of the storage facilities are available,” the FAO spokeswoman explained.
Mykhalchuk said that FAO is also working with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine on alternative ways to export grain from Ukraine.
“One of the alternative ways that we are currently supporting is exporting through Romania and helping the Izmail laboratory to increase its capacity so that certification takes place much faster and, accordingly, the number of exports, possibly through these borders, increases,” she said.
Civilian casualties from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 24:00 on July 11 amounted to 11,544 civilians (as of July 3 – 11,152), including 5,024 dead (4,889), the Office of the UN High Commissioner reported Human Rights Council (OHCHR) on Tuesday.
“Most of the reported civilian deaths or injuries were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a large area of effect, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as rocket and air strikes,” the document notes on UN data.
This is the case, for example, in Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izyum (Kharkiv region), Lysychansk, Popasna and Severodonetsk (Luhansk region), where numerous civilian deaths or injuries were reported.
According to confirmed UN data, 1905 men, 1316 women, 161 boys and 141 girls died, while the sex of 41 children and 1460 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 6,520 wounded were 202 boys and 144 girls, as well as 187 children whose gender has not yet been determined.
Compared to July 3, eight children were killed and 12 more were injured.
If earlier the OHCHR report on the number of casualties was published daily, and then only on weekdays, now it has become a weekly one. In this report, as in the previous one, data are also given by months.
According to them, the deadliest month for civilians was March, with a minimum of 3,028 deaths, while in April their number dropped to 660, in May to 453 and in June to 361.
From 1 to 11 July, according to the UN, 159 people died, while in the first five days of the war from 24 to 28 February – 336.
According to the report, in July, 157 people died from explosive weapons with a large impact zone and another 364 were injured, while mines and explosive remnants of war – respectively 2 and 2 (1% of total casualties).
The summary also traditionally states that increases from the previous report should not be attributed only to cases after 3 July, as during this period the Office verified a number of cases from previous days.
Ukrainians receive $85 mln worth of transfers through PrivatBank, Western Union from UN WFP
KYIV. June 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainians have received more than 600,000 transfers worth $85 million through the state-owned PrivatBank (Kyiv) and the Western Union international payment system from the UN World Food Program (WFP), the bank’s press service reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, 95% of transfers were received online to a PrivatBank card.
The press service recalled that in May, the UN WFF began disbursing cash assistance to internally displaced persons in Ukraine through Western Union. The amount of assistance is UAH 2,220 per person and up to UAH 6,660 per family.
According to the statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine, as of April 1, 2022, PrivatBank ranked first (UAH 592.38 billion) among 69 banks operating in the country in terms of total assets.
International tourism is rapidly recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, but developments in Ukraine and the economic situation in the world as a whole may slow down the improvement in the industry’s performance, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
“The vast majority of industry professionals are looking forward to a recovery in international tourism in 2022 compared to 2021 if the virus does not spread and countries continue to lift restrictions. In the first quarter, international tourism recovered rapidly, but despite the positive outlook, the economic situation, combined with events in Ukraine, could lead to a slowdown in the recovery of international tourism.
According to her, in the first quarter, the number of international tourist arrivals amounted to 61% of the level of the pre-pandemic 2019.
“Events in Ukraine interfere with travel in Eastern Europe, but so far have had a limited impact on the overall performance of international tourism. However, economic consequences, including rising oil prices and inflation, disruption of international supply chains, lead to an increase in transport and hotel accommodation costs.
Thus, according to the UNWTO, the average cost of one international tourist trip has grown from $1,000 in 2019 to $1,400 in 2022. Many UNWTO experts expect a full recovery of international arrivals to 2019 levels in 2023.
According to the organization, international tourism revenues fell by $2 trillion in 2020 and 2021 due to border closures and air travel.
Civilian casualties from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 24:00 June 9 amounted to 9,585 civilians (a day earlier – 9,519), including 4,339 dead (4,302), reports the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday.
“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are much higher as information is delayed from some areas of heavy fighting and many reports are still awaiting confirmation,” the UN data document notes.
According to him, this applies, for example, to Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izyum (Kharkiv region) and Popasna (Luhansk region), where there are reports of numerous civilian casualties. They are subject to further verification and are not included in the above statistics.
“The majority of civilian deaths or injuries were caused by the use of explosive devices with a wide area of effect, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as rocket and air strikes,” the report says.
According to confirmed UN data, 1,646 men, 1,098 women, 105 boys and 102 girls died, while the sex of 67 children and 1,321 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 5,246 injured were 151 boys and 120 girls, as well as 172 children whose gender has not yet been determined.
Compared to the report the day before, two children were killed and four more were injured.
OHCHR indicates that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on June 10, there were 2,370 (2,339) dead and 2,328 (2,326) injured in government-controlled territory, and 157 (154) dead and 662 (653) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics”.
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporozhye, Kyiv, Sumy, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 1812 (1809) dead and 2256 (2238) wounded .
The summary has traditionally stated that the increase in figures from the previous summary should not be attributed only to the cases on June 9, since during this period the Office verified a number of cases from previous days.
Representatives of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN will gather in Istanbul in the coming days to discuss a plan of action on the situation around problems with grain exports, the Turkish Anadolu agency reports, citing its own data.
“The details of the road map will be discussed in the coming days during the meeting, which will be attended by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and UN representatives,” the statement said.
According to Anadolu, the meeting will consider issues related to “insurance and security of ships, as well as demining the region.”
The agency indicates that it is planned to create a coordination center in Istanbul, which “should allow sending about 20 million tons of grain and sunflower seeds from Russia and Ukraine to world markets.”
