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Ukraine Crisis Update WHO - OCHA - FAO - ICRC 29 March 2022
Ukraine: aid convoy reaches war-battered Kharkiv, Mariupol fears remain
Urgently needed aid supplies have reached the embattled Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, amid reports that people are facing “life-and-death decisions” on whether to leave Mariupol and elsewhere, more than a month since the Russian invasion.
On Monday, relief reached “the hard-battered” city of Kharkiv in north-eastern Ukraine “and safely delivered food rations, medical supplies and household items for thousands of people,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian coordinating office, OCHA.
To the south, in Mariupol and other Ukrainian locations that have been encircled and pummelled by indiscriminate shelling, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that he the crisis was “deepening…the level of death, destruction and suffering that we are witnessing and that is being inflicted on civilians is abhorrent and unacceptable”.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, ICRC spokesperson Ewan Watson reiterated serious concerns about civilians who have no safe means of escape, and who have faced constant shelling, while also lacking running water and other essentials.
According to OCHA, around 90 per cent of Mariupol’s residential buildings – some 2,600 homes – have been affected by active fighting.
Some 60 per cent of buildings have suffered various degrees of damage from direct shelling, while about 40 per cent have been completely destroyed. Local authorities say the rising civilian death toll is fast-approaching 5,000 people.
“Today civilians are taking life-and-death decisions to flee when there is no ceasefire or other agreements in place that will allow them to leave safely,” said ICRC’s Mr. Watson. “Time is running out for citizens in Mariupol and in other frontline areas who have now gone for weeks with no humanitarian assistance.”
In Kharkiv, where Monday’s UN aid convoy was led by the UN’s top aid official in Ukraine, Osnat Lubrani, the supplies will now be distributed by the Ukrainian Red Cross to the most vulnerable communities in the city, as well as the hard-to-reach suburbs Izium, Balakliia and Chuhuiv.
“There are UNICEF supplies for 6,000 people, UNHCR items for 500 households that include things such as solar lamps, tarpaulins and blankets, WFP food rations for 3,325 people for two weeks, WHO supplies to care for 10,000 primary health care patients for three months, and supplies to treat trauma patients,” said OCHA spokesperson Mr. Laerke.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, he noted that the city’s municipal authorities had reported “that more than 1,140 buildings have been destroyed since the military offensive began” on 24 February. “Of these, nearly 1,000 are residential buildings. This raises serious concerns about both the shelter and protection needs of people.”
Highlighting the risks faced by medical workers and patients in Ukraine, Dr Jarno Habicht, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Ukraine, said that there have now been “74 attacks with 72 deaths and 40 injuries in the period of 24 February until 25 March…These attacks are against hospitals, ambulances.”
Dr Habicht confirmed that medical goods were “much-needed in the facilities where the doctors and nurses are doing much of the work, almost 24/7 in these very difficult circumstances”.
Equally worrying are fears that Ukrainians may soon be facing serious food insecurity because of the ongoing conflict, which has already disrupted livelihoods during the agricultural growing season.
The alert from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) follows assessments in 19 of Ukraine’s 24 oblasts, or regions, which indicated that it was uncertain whether Ukraine could harvest crops, plant new ones or sustain livestock production.
“An immediate and worrying finding is that food shortages are expected immediately or in the next three months in over 40 per cent of the surveyed areas and cases,” said Rein Paulsen, FAO Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience.
“When it comes to the all-important production of vegetables, conflict is likely to severely disrupt production for tens of thousands of smallholder farmers, those who have decided to stay behind.”
To help support the relief effort, FAO has appealed for $50 million but it is only 10 per cent funded.
Nonetheless, it has been possible to support more than 14,600 farming families by providing them with more than 740 tonnes of urgently needed seed for planting, Mr. Paulsen explained.
ends
STORY: Ukraine Update – WHO, OCHA, FAO, ICRC
TRT: 3 mins 05s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 29 March 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, flag alley, UN Geneva.
- Wide shot, UN Geneva Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Jens Laerke, OCHA: “Yesterday, it made its way into the hard-battered Kharkiv in northern Ukraine and safely delivered food rations, medical supplies and household items for thousands of people.”
- Medium shot, participants, seated, following briefing, a video camera is placed on table.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Jens Laerke, OCHA: “There are UNICEF supplies for 6,000 people, UNHCR items for 500 households that include things such as solar lamps, tarpaulins and blankets, WFP food rations for 3,325 people for two weeks, WHO supplies to care for 10,000 primary health care patients for three months, and supplies to treat trauma patients.”
- Medium shot, particupants, masked.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Jens Laerke, OCHA: “In Kharkiv, municipal authorities have said that more than 1,140 buildings have been destroyed since the military offensive began. Of these, nearly 1,000 are residential buildings. This raises serious concerns about both the shelter and protection needs of people.”
- Close-up, TV camera on tripod, video journalist filming with DSLR camera.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Ewan Watson – ICRC: “The humanitarian crisis is deepening in Ukraine; the level of death, destruction and suffering that we are witnessing and that is being inflicted on civilians is abhorrent and unacceptable.”
- Medium shot, participant wearing mask, hunched over laptop, with hand on forehead.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Ewan Watson – ICRC: “Today civilians are taking life-and-death decisions to flee when there is no ceasefire or other agreements in place that will allow them to leave safely. Time is running out for citizens in Mariupol and in other frontline areas who have now gone for weeks with no humanitarian assistance.”
- Close-up, video journalist filming, images on camera display and large TV screen to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Dr Jarno Habicht (via Zoom from Lviv), WHO Representative in Ukraine: “What we have observed now is 74 attacks with 72 deaths and 40 injuries in the period of 24 February until 25 March, meaning during one month. These attacks are against hospitals, ambulances.”
- Medium shot, podium speaker and external speaker shown on large screen TV with lighting panel and participants to rear, masked.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Dr Jarno Habicht (via Zoom from Lviv), WHO Representative in Ukraine: “Medical goods are much-needed in the facilities where the doctors and nurses are doing much of the work, almost 24/7 in these very difficult circumstances.”
- Medium shot, large screen TV showing podium speaker and external speaker in foreground, podium speakers to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rein Paulsen, Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience, FAO: “An immediate and worrying finding is that food shortages are expected immediately or in the next three months in over 40 per cent of the surveyed areas and cases.”
- Medium-wide shot, Press room participants filmed from behind the podium, flanked by TV frame and screen.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Rein Paulsen, Director, Office of Emergencies and Resilience, FAO: “When it comes to the all-important production of vegetables, conflict is likely to severely disrupt production for tens of thousands of smallholder farmers, those who have decided to stay behind.”
- Wide shot, Press briefing room.
- Medium shot, showing participant wearing facemask in focus to rear, with a laptop and user’s hands in foreground, blurred.
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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.
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“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”.
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