Aid workers have brought food, water, hygiene kits, shelter materials and vital household items, such as bedding, thermal blankets and solar lights, for more than 6,000 people in the city.
Russian forces have occupied Kherson since March, capturing the city in the first weeks of the war. To date, it is the only regional capital to fall to the invaders.
‘Emergency assistance’
The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Denise Brown, said on Monday that “the people of Kherson are struggling to meet their basic needs, only adding to the trauma of suffering for months. under constant bombardment, forced to leave their homes and see their loved ones dead or wounded”.
She added that they needed urgent assistance “and we had to act quickly to help them.”
The city faces shortages of water and electricity, markets are short of food, and medical facilities are short of medicine. Now that humanitarian aid is arriving in the city, medicine is being supplied to a medical center large enough to treat more than 1,000 patients over the next month.
International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNCHR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP) all joined the convoy on Monday.
More support on the way
The humanitarian community will continue to mobilize resources and supplies in the coming days to expand operations and bring more aid to people in all areas of the Kherson region.
In recent weeks, life-saving items have been delivered to more than 12,000 people in other towns and villages recaptured by Ukraine in the Kherson region, including Novovorontsovka, Novooleksandrivka, Velyka Oleksandrivka and Vysokopillia.
So far this year, humanitarian organizations have reached 100,000 people in the region, most with cash assistance.
We stand with everyone: Brown
“With the support of our partners, especially local organisations, I am confident we will be able to do more in the days and weeks ahead,” Ms. Brown said. “We must stand with the people of Kherson in their hour of need.”
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited the city on Monday, and said that a “long and difficult road” was ahead despite the liberation of Kherson from Russian control, according to news reports. He pledged that Ukraine was “moving forward”.
