UN speaks of "existential threat to the people of Ukraine"

UN Deputy Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča said on 11 April that the escalation of the war in Ukraine "is a direct threat to regional stability and international security" and voiced an "existential threat to the people of Ukraine."

Source: Voice of America with reference to the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs

Details: Jenča said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched in flagrant violation of the UN Charter and international law, continues to inflict great damage on the people of Ukraine.

And Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities over the past month have become a "daily destructive pattern", including intense and systematic targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Jenča gave the death toll for March as at least 126 civilians and said that 478 more were wounded, "a 20 per cent increase compared with the previous month."

In March alone, at least 57 children were killed or injured. In the same month, 12 medical facilities and 32 educational institutions were destroyed or damaged.

Since February 2022, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded that 10,810 civilians, including 600 children, were killed and 20,556 civilians, including 1,357 children, were injured.

Quote: "This is unacceptable. Attacks on civilians and on civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law. They must cease immediately, and we continue to condemn them, wherever they occur."

More details: Jenča noted that "regular cross-border strikes into the Russian Federation" continue as well.

Jenča said that the UN continues to call on Russia to provide access to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and independent observers to the occupied territories of Ukraine.

At the same time, Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that Ukraine is currently experiencing the worst attacks since the beginning of this war.

Wosornu informed the UN that a total of 10 million people across the country have lost their homes.

More than 14.6 million people – about 40% of Ukraine's population – are in need of humanitarian assistance, 56% of them are women and girls, she added.  

She expressed gratitude to donors for the US$541 million and stressed that this is currently only 17% of the US$3.1 billion needed for Ukraine in 2024.

Wosornu called on the Security Council to prevent this war from continuing unimpeded and indefinitely. As the war continues, she emphasised the need to respect the laws of war, which Russia is currently flagrantly violating on a daily basis.

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