The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNICEF , UNHCR , OCHA , WHO , UNITED NATIONS
Bi-weekly press briefing: Ukraine Crisis Update UNICEF - OCHA - WHO - UNHCR 04 March 2022
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.
ends
STORY: Ukraine Update – UNICEF, UNHCR, WHO, OCHA
TRT: 2 mins 47s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 4 March 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, UN flag alley UN Geneva.
- Wide shot, Press room, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English): James Elder, spokesperson, UNICEF, via Zoom from Lviv, Ukraine: “500,000 children have been forced to flee their homes in just seven days. This is unprecedented in scale and speed.”
- Medium shot, participants checking laptop and mobile phone.
- SOUNDBITE (English): James Elder, spokesperson, UNICEF, via Zoom from Lviv, 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.”
- Medium-wide shot, podium speakers, external speakers on TV screen to side.
- SOUNDBITE (English): James Elder, spokesperson, UNICEF, via Zoom from Lviv, Ukraine: “UNICEF’s first convoy of trucks will arrive here later today, at the latest tomorrow, 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.”
- Wide shot, Press room, participants seated.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams, UNHCR, via Zoom Palanca at the Moldova/Ukraine border: “And when we spoke to some of the families leaving, it was – it was - extremely clear the level of fear and trauma; 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.”
- Wide shot, Press room, participants seated.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Dr Flavio SALIO, Emergency Medical Team Network Leader, WHO, via Zoom, at Poland-Ukraine border: “Yesterday we also received the first cargo shipment of trauma supplies, surgical supplies and emergency health supplies and medicines that will be then - the cargo’s going to be moving towards the border and then across, further.”
- Medium shot, Press room, participants and podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE: (English): Dr Flavio SALIO, Emergency Medical Team Network Leader, WHO, via Zoom, at Poland-Ukraine border: “We are looking to the possibility of the medical evacuations of civilians and that component, it needs to be looked at very carefully. 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.”
- Medium shot, Press room, participants.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Jens Laerke, spokesperson, OCHA: “We welcome the reports that the two sides have agreed to facilitate safe passage. Just a moment ago when I was with the Emergency Relief Coordinator, we did not have in writing an official confirmation from the sides.”
- Medium shot, Press room, podium speakers.
- Medium shot, video journalist filming.
- Medium shot: participant writing notes, external participants shown on TV screen to rear.
Similar Stories
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on the human rights situation in Haiti.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Repeated delays in bringing lifesaving medicines, prosthetics and more from Israel into Gaza risk having devastating consequences on Palestinians who urgently need them in the wartorn enclave, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. “A truck full of non-priority supplies or the right supplies arriving too late, doesn't save lives. That's the question that actually matters," said Dr Reinhilde Van De Weerdt, WHO Representative in the OPT.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC: Early access to care and oxygen decisive for Ebola patients’ survival – WHO
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health workers fighting the country’s largest-ever Ebola outbreak are struggling to overcome critical challenges to patient care, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UN
Civilians in Iran are continuing to feel the consequences of months of conflict and military escalation, the UN’s top official in the country has said, as loss of life, damage to civilian infrastructure and mounting economic pressures leave many facing continued uncertainty.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF
Aid agencies in Yemen highlighted the growing hunger emergency sparked by renewed fighting between Houthi opposition forces and Government troops, after mobile health clinics reported that hundreds of children displaced by the violence are suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Displacement on the rise in Yemen as fighting continues - UNHCR
As hostilities worsen in Yemen, more people have been fleeing their homes, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis within the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , OHCHR , UNFPA , UNOG , UNHCR , WHO
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
Yemenis displaced by renewed fighting have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office issued on Friday a report documenting a shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo continues to spread across the vast country despite some success in containing it, aid officials said on Tuesday, in a renewed call for international support to help responders on the ground.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WFP
‘Super El Niño’ and converging crises worsen hunger in South Sudan and across the region - WFP
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.