The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is acute

For several weeks, cities such as Sumy, Mariupol and Volnavaca were targets of Russian attacks with planes, missiles, cruise missiles and artillery.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns that the humanitarian situation in many parts of Ukraine is beginning to deteriorate. In Sumy, a city the size of Malmo near the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine, and in the besieged port city of Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov, there are acute shortages of food, water and medicine, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. .

Several attempts to establish humanity Corridors have been created to allow the civilian population to escape, but large parts of the city’s population are stuck. They now have to choose between staying in shelters where food and water are depleted or exposing themselves to the immediate danger to life posed by Russian bombing.

What we are saying now is that people need food. We have people who lack food, who lack water and who lack medicine. Elisabeth Haslund, UNHCR spokeswoman for the Nordic and Baltic countries, says people in Ukraine are now excluded from being able to cover these basic human needs.

Even in Odessa, the most important port of Ukraine and a city of just over a million inhabitants, the situation is serious. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, local authorities have requested assistance to provide 450,000 residents with food and other necessities.

Mariupol has been surrounded by Russian forces, and last week the Red Cross evacuated its staff from the city.

– The ICRC had a team in Mariupol, most of which were in shelters. Their office became like a refuge for women and children, but in the end the necessities ended there. They’ve managed to leave the city, or I think most people have at least been able to leave, says Isak Hellrup, a press spokesman for the Red Cross in Sweden.

Red Cross receives from its staff In Ukraine reports indicate that the situation in the eastern parts of the country is acute in many places.

The need is much greater than what is coming, says Isaac Hellerib, who continues:

– It is very difficult to operate, precisely because the security situation is very dangerous. When bombs fall, it is difficult to get out of them.

According to Reuters, the United Nations World Food Program reported on Friday that food distribution chains in Ukraine had collapsed.

Outside the Russian-bombed Ukrainian cities, the World Food Program began building warehouses that housed, among other things, wheat flour and food rations.

“In Ukraine, our job is, in principle, to replace the commercial food supply chains that have been destroyed,” Jacob Kern, WPF Ukraine Crisis Fund coordinator, told Reuters.

But the chances of getting worse Damaged cities are limited by the destruction of roads and bridges by Russian attacks, while convoys of food, water and other necessities are at risk of being hit by Russian fire.

It is essential to have access to proper infrastructure, but even with infrastructure it will be difficult to access because the security situation is very dangerous, says Elizabeth Haslund.

Isak Hellerup also states that the water supply infrastructure has been destroyed in many places in Ukraine. In the eastern parts of the country, the situation is considered critical in many places. In the Donetsk region, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees confirmed that 200,000 people do not have access to water.