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Bi-weekly press briefing: Ukraine Crisis Update UNICEF

Ukraine crisis: unprecedented outflow of traumatised humanity, say UN teams

UN humanitarians on Friday described as "unprecedented" the continuing outflow of children and families fleeing “relentless shelling” from the Russian military action in Ukraine, while also welcoming as-yet unconfirmed assurances of safe passage for relief teams seeking to provide urgently needed assistance.

Because of the escalation, “500,000 children have been forced to flee their homes in just seven days; this is unprecedented in scale and speed,” said James Elder, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund, speaking via Zoom from Lviv in western Ukraine.

“As fighting continues of course last night, thousands of children spent another night in freezing and terrifying - terrified - in bunkers under siege. Children must, must, have peace.”

The psychological toll that the barrage of shelling and sirens has had on countless families fleeing the country is clear among those arriving at the country’s borders, said Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams from the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

“When we spoke to some of the families leaving, it was …extremely clear the level of fear and trauma,” said Ms. Ghedini-Williams, speaking from Moldova’s border with Ukraine, where there was a queue of cars “as far as the eye could see”.

“One family that I spoke to, it was a mother with her three children in the car and their two dogs. They were all very shaken up. The youngest child, she was a young girl of I would guess around eight or nine, was visibly shaken.”

Deeper within Ukraine, “where many cities have faced relentless shelling”, according to UN humanitarian coordinating office OCHA, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) explained that it was ramping up aid as quickly as possible for desperate health teams. “Yesterday, we also received the first cargo shipment of trauma supplies, surgical supplies and emergency health supplies and medicines,” said Dr Flavio Salio, Emergency Medical Team Network Leader.

Speaking via Zoom from the Poland-Ukraine border, he said that the first WHO cargo shipment with critical emergency supplies had just arrived in Warsaw and was now moving towards the border before crossing soon into Ukraine.

Dr Salio added that the WHO was also considering medical evacuations of civilians, but that safe access was paramount.

“I think at this stage safe access will be very critical, both in terms of assets as well as teams that are very willing to provide the needed medical support for the medical care,” he told journalists in Geneva.

Amid “staggering” numbers of displaced people, UNICEF underscored that humanitarian needs across the country were “multiplying by the hour”.

“UNICEF’s first convoy of trucks will arrive here later today, at the latest tomorrow,” said spokesperson Mr. Elder, speaking from Lviv. “It’ll bring emergency supplies, water, sanitation kits, midwifery kits, mothers are having babies in bunkers. We’ve sent oxygen cylinders to Kiev and have safe tents on borders. But as long as conflict continues, demand will continue to outstrip supply.”

Hundreds of thousands of people are without safe drinking water because of damage to water system infrastructure and many have been cut off from access to other essential services like healthcare, Mr. Elder warned, noting that “tens of thousands of children” remain in child-care institutions, and many are disabled.

On the need to guarantee safe passage for humanitarians, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said that the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, had welcomed reports that the two sides had “agreed to facilitate safe passage”. But he noted that as yet there had been no official confirmation from the sides in writing.

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- OCHA - WHO - UNHCR 04 March 2022