United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call on Sunday for a pause in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to allow civilians to leave danger zones.
“It is absolutely essential to establish a pause in the fighting in Ukraine in order to allow the safe passage of civilians from Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy, as well as from all the other places caught up in the conflict”, affirmed the head of the UN in a tweet.
He also called for “guaranteeing the delivery of vital humanitarian supplies”, such as those from the UN which began arriving in the country on Saturday.
On Saturday, the United Nations coordinator for the crisis in Ukraine, Amin Awad, called for an “immediate humanitarian pause”, stressing the urgency of prioritizing geographical areas and sectors “where there are has urgent humanitarian needs in order to intensify the delivery of life-saving aid”.
During the week, an emergency appeal to raise 1.7 billion dollars was launched by the UN and its partner organizations in order to provide the humanitarian assistance that Ukraine will need. This appeal is composed of a first plan dedicated to the situation inside Ukraine which requires an amount of 1.1 billion dollars to cover the growing humanitarian needs of more than six million people affected and displaced by the military operations over the next three months.
The second plan, which concerns humanitarian operations in neighboring countries, provides an amount of 551 million dollars to help Ukrainians who have fled the borders, mainly to Poland, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.
