“500,000 children were forced out of their homes in just seven days… on an unprecedented scale and speed,” said James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UN Children’s Fund)UNICEF), said via video link from Lviv in western Ukraine.
“Of course, as the fighting continued last night, thousands of children spent another night freezing and terrified – terrified – in besieged bunkers. Children must, yes, have peace. ”
Demand far exceeds supply
Amid the “incredible” number of displaced people, UNICEF stressed that humanitarian needs across the country are “multiplying by the hour”.
Hundreds of thousands of people are without safe drinking water due to damaged system infrastructure and many have their access to other essential services such as healthcare, Elder said. and many are disabled.
“The first convoy of UNICEF trucks will arrive after…[with] first aid supplies, water, hygiene kits, midwifery kits,” he continued. “Mothers give birth in bunkers,”
“We have sent oxygen tanks to Kiev and have safety tents on the border. But as long as the conflict continues, demand will continue to outpace supply.”
The family is clearly shaken
The mentality of shelling and sirens on countless families fleeing the country is evident among those who reach its borders..
Speaking from Moldova’s border with Ukraine, Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, head of communications for the UN Refugee Agency, said the level of fear and trauma was “extremely obvious”.
Amid a stream of cars “as far as the eye can see”, Ms Ghedini-Williams talks to a mother with three children in her car and their two dogs.
“They were all very shaken. The youngest… a little girl who I guess was eight or nine years old, was very shaken. ”
Life-saving medical supplies
Meanwhile from the Polish-Ukrainian border, the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Network team leader, Flavio Salio, said “the first shipment consisting of trauma supplies, surgical and emergency medical supplies and medicines, arrived in Warsaw yesterday and is now present in Warsaw. is moving towards the border before crossing Ukraine.
Pending safe access, WHO is also considering medical evacuation of civilians.
“I think at this stage it will be important to have safe access, both in terms of assets as well as a team that is ready to provide the medical support needed for medical care,” he said.
© UNICEF / Oleksandr Brynza
Babies are cared for in a makeshift perinatal center located in the basement of a medical complex in Saltivka, a residential area in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Negotiate a safe passage
Deeper in the country, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHAsays many cities have faced relentless shelling.
OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said that the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, welcomed reports that the two sides had “agreed to facilitate safe travel” for humanitarian people.
However, he noted, there has not been any official confirmation from the written parties yet.
Fleeing between racism
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), of the more than 1.2 million who have left Ukraine, more than half went to Poland, where waiting times along the Ukraine-Polish border ranged from 24 to 36 hours.
IOM spokesman Paul Dillon raised concerns that more than 78,000 third-country nationals from 138 countries have been reported to have experienced xenophobia and racism during their journey.
“Such reports need to be addressed,” he said.
Protecting innocent children
With at least 19 children killed and 31 wounded in the military operation in Ukraine, the UN Children’s Rights Commission demanded that Russia immediately cease its aggression and militarization.
“Children in Ukraine are currently suffering from suffering and psychological trauma. They are being killed and wounded … separated from their families … and their daily lives and routines have been completely destroyed,” the United Nations Office for Human Rights said in a statement. declareadded that as a result of the military attack, “children suffered from extreme violence and experienced unbearable levels of fear and anxiety”.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child asks Russia to uphold its obligations under Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect children from physical and psychological violence “to the fullest extent and highest priority.”
© UNICEF / Ioana Moldova
A nine-year-old girl and three-year-old brother arrive at a temporary shelter in Romania after fleeing with their mother from the conflict in Ukraine.
