Violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine is inconsistent with the UN Charter, said UN Secretary General Antonic Guterres.
“We firmly believe that the violation of the territorial integrity of any country is completely inconsistent with the UN Charter. We are deeply concerned about what is happening now. We believe that there has been an invasion of the territory of Ukraine,” Guterres said during negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in Moscow.
The claims that Russia has regarding Ukrainian issues and European global security must be resolved, guided by the UN Charter, Guterres said.
The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine due to the war unleashed by Russia has reached 7.7 million compared to 854 thousand before the start of the war, as of April 21 this estimate was given by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR ), which as of April 6 estimated this figure at 7.1 million.
“The Russian Federation launched a military offensive against Ukraine on February 24, 2022. To date, more than 5 million refugees have left Ukraine, making this the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II. Another 7.7 million people have been displaced inside Ukraine,” it says in a report on his website.
UNHCR estimates that some 13 million people are stuck in affected areas or unable to leave due to heightened security risks, destruction of bridges and roads, and a lack of resources or information on where to find safety and shelter.
The organization notes that the delivery of vital aid remains challenging due to the lack of safe humanitarian access.
Citing UNICEF and WASH partners, UNHCR reports that 1.4 million people are currently without access to water in eastern Ukraine and that another 4.6 million people across Ukraine are at risk of losing such access. The organization also points to the persistence of the difficult situation in Kherson.
“UNHCR continues to call for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, respect for international humanitarian law, and neighboring countries to continue to keep their borders open to refugees,” the report emphasizes.
As Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on April 13, 1 million people have already registered as new IDPs as a result of the Russian invasion. The state announced that it would make monthly payments for registered IDPs in the amount of UAH 2,000 per adult and UAH 3,000 per child.
According to UNHCR data, as of 13:00 on April 22, a total of 5.16 million people left Ukraine since the beginning of the war (excluding the flow to enter), of which 2.88 million went to Poland, 838.86 thousand to Romania and Moldova. , Russia – 578.26 thousand, Hungary – 485.62 thousand, Slovakia – 352.29 thousand, Belarus – 23.9 thousand.
The UNHCR, referring to data from the State Border Service of April 22, also indicated that since February 28, the flow to enter Ukraine amounted to 1.12 million people, thus the total number of refugees is about 4 million.
Civilian casualties from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 24:00 on April 19 amounted to 5,121 civilians (4,966 in the report a day earlier), including 2,224 dead (2,104), reports the Office of the High Commissioner UN Human Rights on Tuesday.
The daily summary traditionally states that the increase in figures from the previous summary should not be attributed only to the cases that occurred on April 19, since during the day OHCHR also verified a number of cases that occurred in previous days, however, the increase in the number of deaths is the second largest the largest during the entire war.
“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), Popasna (Luhansk region) and Borodianka (Kyiv 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, 631 men, 383 women, 61 boys and 42 girls died, while the sex of 70 children and 1037 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 2,897 injured were 59 girls and 64 boys, as well as 157 children whose gender has not yet been determined.
Compared to the previous day, according to the UN, three children were killed and three more were injured.
OHCHR indicates that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on April 20, there were 746 (660) dead and 1,078 (1,070) injured in government-controlled territory, and 79 (79) dead and 325 (320) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics”.
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporozhye, Kiev, Sumy, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 1399 (1365) dead and 1494 (1472) wounded .
The report also states that, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, as of 8:00 am on April 20, 205 (205) children were killed, 373 (367) were injured.
Losses among civilians from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, until 24:00 on April 17 amounted to 4890 civilians (in the summary three days earlier – 4577), including 2072 dead (1982), reports the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights person on Monday.
“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), Popasna (Luhansk region) and Borodyanka (Kyiv 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, 537 men, 327 women, 60 boys and 38 girls died, while the sex of 71 children and 1039 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 2,818 injured were 56 girls and 61 boys, as well as 155 children whose gender has not yet been determined.
Compared to three days earlier, seven children were killed and 16 others were injured, according to the UN.
OHCHR indicates that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on April 18, there were 653 (637) dead and 1,059 (1,040) injured in government-controlled territory, and 79 (79) dead and 312 (291) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics”.
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporozhye, Kiev, Sumy, Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 1340 (1266) dead and 1447 (1320) wounded .
The report also states that, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, as of 8:00 am on April 18, 205 (198) children were killed, 362 (355) were injured.
The report, which was released for the first time after a two-day break, traditionally indicates that the increase in indicators in it should not be attributed to the previous report only for cases that occurred on April 15-17, since during these days OHCHR also verified a number of cases that occurred in previous days.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) deepens cooperation with Ukraine in the context of the blocking of its maritime agricultural exports by warships of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, the issue of the organization’s purchase of Ukrainian grain and its subsequent delivery to countries that are threatened hunger.
The relevant issue was discussed by Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solsky and WFP Executive Director David Muldow Beasley during a meeting in Kyiv, according to the website of the Ukrainian department on Friday.
“The possibility of purchasing surplus grains in Ukraine at the expense of the World Food Program was discussed in order to provide food for the countries of Africa and the Middle East and prevent global famine in these regions, the threat of which is very real,” the ministry said in a statement.
The agency stressed that WFP has deployed large-scale humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians affected by the war. In particular, contacts have been established with bakeries, flour mills and food industry enterprises in Ukraine for the purchase of goods from them and subsequent delivery to the regions affected by the Russian military invasion.
“We are talking about about 40 thousand tons of food products. Seven warehouses have been opened in Kyiv, Lvov, Dnipro, Vinnitsa, Chernivtsi, Odessa and Kropyvnytskyi. And in Lviv, Vinnitsa and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, financial assistance is provided to immigrants,” Beasley quotes press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
In turn, Solsky during the meeting focused on the need to unblock Ukrainian seaports and shipping routes in order to ensure the export of agricultural products from Ukraine.
“In order to stabilize the situation, it is important to ensure the logistics of supplies of agricultural products from Ukraine through unblocked ports and alternative routes. In addition, small and medium-sized Ukrainian farms and agricultural enterprises, which play a big role in ensuring national and global food security, need urgent help,” – quotes the department of its head.
As reported, on April 13, UN Secretary General António Guterres said that the war in Ukraine could doom more than 1/5 of humanity to poverty, want and hunger unprecedented for decades.
Deputy Minister of Economy – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka stressed that the reason for the threat to world food security and rising prices for agricultural raw materials is the blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russian warships, therefore the lifting of the naval blockade of Ukraine is more effective for the food security of the world than the creation of new special funds. He stressed that Ukraine must repulse the aggressor at sea and on land, so that Ukrainian grain and oilseeds would reach the world market in full.
To date, the capacity of alternative logistics routes bypassing Ukrainian seaports is estimated at 600,000 tons of crops per month. This figure can be increased to 2-3 million tons of agricultural crops per month by increasing the capacity of railway and logistics crossings at the borders with the EU countries.
Before the Russian military invasion, Ukraine monthly exported up to 5 million tons of agricultural products through the ports of Odessa and Nikolaev, but now, due to their naval blockade by the Russian Federation, the country can transport about 500 thousand tons of grain monthly. This leads to a monthly shortfall of about $1.5 billion in export earnings.
Nova Poshta joined the UN World Food Programme (WFP), as part of cooperation, the company receives food from European countries, forms food packages from them and delivers them to settlements according to the UN vision, primarily to Ukraine’s hot spots.
As the Nova Poshta press service reported on Wednesday, the company provided its production facilities in western Ukraine for the needs of the UNHCR and the UN Refugee Agency.
It is noted that the UN is compiling a list of priority cities and towns, focusing on the places of hostilities and regions that are threatened with a humanitarian catastrophe.
As of the beginning of April (in one week of cooperation), Nova Poshta prepared and delivered about 25,000 food packages to Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.
In addition, the company transported more than 420 tonnes of household goods from the UNHCR to the IDPs.
Until the end of this month, Nova Poshta plans to deliver about 300,000 more sets to Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
“According to statistics, more than 10 million of our citizens have already been forced to leave their homes, hundreds of thousands still remain in dangerous cities and in conditions close to a humanitarian catastrophe, and we cannot stand aside. Even at the beginning of the war, we began transporting humanitarian aid across country and from abroad. We are now joining the UN programme. We are doing everything possible to make life at least a little easier for the Ukrainians most affected by the war,” Oleksandr Bulba, CEO of Nova Poshta, is quoted as saying.
In the nearest plans of the company – to start cooperation with other international organizations to provide Ukrainians with universal assistance.
