Ukraine Humanitarian Update OCHA - WFP - OHCHR
/
3:35
/
MP4
/
262.9 MB

Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , WFP

Ukraine Humanitarian Update OCHA - WFP - OHCHR

Four months after Russian invasion Ukraine’s needs are still massive, say UN humanitarians

Across Ukraine, the scale of needs caused by Russia's invasion is still massive and human rights concerns persist, UN humanitarians said in an update on Thursday, as they repeated calls for access to the country's Black Sea ports to export vitally needed cereals.

Speaking from Kyiv, Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Osnat Lubrani, described the heartbreak she felt after seeing “this destruction, this suffering”, in Mariupol, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Bucha, Irpin and beyond.

The UN and hundreds of national partners and volunteers have done their utmost to help those most in need, but much more could be done by the Russian and Ukrainian authorities to protect civilians, she insisted.

“Almost 16 million people in Ukraine today need humanitarian assistance; water, food, health services, a roof over their heads, protection. These are conservative numbers that the United Nations is in the process of revising now.”

Outside the war-ravaged country, amid growing alarm over global food insecurity in part caused by the lack of safe access to Ukrainian ports and the cereal silos they house, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) repeated its calls to reach them.

“Without the Black Sea ports, we cannot get anywhere close to the kind of export levels that Ukraine urgently needs,” said Kate Newton, WFP Ukraine Deputy Emergency Coordinator. “However, we’re doing everything we can, which means by road, by rail and now by river, to try to get close to the maximum output. And at the moment, we think it’s about one million metric tonnes a month and maybe we can push up to two million, but we urgently need access to the Black Sea.”

Since the Russian invasion on 24 February, the UN has monitored the number of civilians killed and injured across Ukraine by the conflict. This process is exhaustive, meaning that the true number of victims is almost certainly far higher.

“What we know is that the number we have of almost 5,000 civilians killed and more than 5,000 injured is just a fraction of the frightening reality,” said Ms. Lubrani, who also highlighted the widespread targeting of civilian infrastructure that has marked exchanges of shelling. “I cannot speak of precise numbers of the hospitals that were damaged and the schools and the homes, but we know that it is in the thousands, we simply cannot yet verify the exact numbers.”

More than 300 organisations are working on the humanitarian response in Ukraine, almost 200 of them national non-governmental organisations involving Ukrainians “who are the first-responders…they are truly supporting one another”, Ms. Lubrani said.

Since 24 February, the UN and humanitarian partners have provided lifesaving assistance to nearly nine million people in every single region of Ukraine, the UN top aid official continued, adding that nearly two million had received cash assistance to “make their own choices to meet their basic needs”.

Despite these successes, aid access is still too dangerous in many places.

“We could not deliver relief supplies or access Kherson,” Ms. Lubrani said. We could not deliver relief supplies or access Mariupol. We could not support any sort of assistance, have not even managed to have the parties to agree on safe passages to evacuate people from Sievierodonetsk, so they could move in the direction of their choice.”

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine insisted that this scenario “is not new for the mother of a four-month-old baby that I met when supporting the evacuations from Mariupol and Azovstal plant there, who told me how she survived for months without seeing the sunlight, how she struggled to feed herself, and how she and others had to survive without enough clean water to drink.”

And Ms. Lubrani continued that it was also “not new for people in almost the entire Luhanska oblast, not only Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, where we have seen the images of destruction caused by the clashes between the parties to this horrendous conflict.”

Asked about the situation in the port city of Mariupol, Head of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, said that the UN was continuing to try to secure access from the Russian forces there. There are also ongoing concerns about the so-called filtration process of people wishing to leave the devastated city.

“We do understand that if people do not fully pass that filtration process, they can then be detained and held, sometimes in areas in Donetsk and we do fear for their safety,” Ms. Bogner said. “We have documented in the past that people held in detention places in the areas controlled by armed forces - Russian-affiliated armed forces in the east – have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment and we are very concerned that this may be continuing.”

ends

STORY: Ukraine Humanitarian Update – OCHA, WFP, OHCHR

TRT: 3 mins 36s

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 30 June 2022 KYIV, UKRAINE

SHOTLIST

  1. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Osnat Lubrani, Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine: “Almost 16 million people in Ukraine today need humanitarian assistance; water, food, health services, a roof over their heads, protection. These are conservative numbers that the United Nations is in the process of revising now.”
  2. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Kate Newton, Deputy Emergency Coordinator, World Food Programme (WFP Ukraine): “Without the Black Sea ports we cannot get anywhere close to the kind of export levels that Ukraine urgently needs. However, we’re doing everything we can, which means by road, by rail and now by river, to try to get close to the maximum output. And at the moment we think it’s about one million metric tonnes a month and maybe we can push up to two million, but we urgently need access to the Black Sea.”
  3. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Osnat Lubrani, Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine: “What we know is that the number we have of almost 5,000 civilians killed and more than 5,000 injured is just a fraction of the frightening reality.”
  4. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Osnat Lubrani, Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine: “I cannot speak of precise numbers of the hospitals that were damaged and the schools and the homes, but we know that it is in the thousands, we simply cannot yet verify the exact numbers.”
  5. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Osnat Lubrani, Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine: “Since 24 February, the UN and humanitarian partners have provided lifesaving assistance to nearly nine million people in every single region of Ukraine. Nearly two million have received cash assistance and are able to make their own choices to meet their basic needs.”
  6. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Osnat Lubrani, Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine: “We could not deliver relief supplies or access Kherson. We could not deliver relief supplies or access Mariupol. We could not support any sort of assistance, have not even managed to have the parties to agree on safe passages to evacuate people from Sievierodonetsk, so they could move in the direction of their choice.”
  7. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Osnat Lubrani, Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine: “We are making every effort to support the people whose lives have been torn apart because of this war. But the Russian Federation – also the Ukrainian Government - have to do more to protect the people of this country and to make our work possible.”
  8. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Osnat Lubrani, Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine: “It is not new for the mother of a four-month-old baby that I met when supporting the evacuations from Mariupol and Azovstal plant there, who told me how she survived for months without seeing the sunlight, how she struggled to feed herself, and how she and others had to survive without enough clean water to drink.”
  9. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Osnat Lubrani, Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine: “It is not new for people in almost the entire Luhanska oblast, not only Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, where we have seen the images of destruction caused by the clashes between the parties to this horrendous conflict.”
  10. SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH): Matilda Bogner, Head of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine: “We do understand that if people do not fully pass that filtration process, they can then be detained and held, sometimes in areas in Donetsk and we do fear for their safety. We have documented in the past that people held in detention places in the areas controlled by armed forces - Russian-affiliated armed forces in the east – have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment and we are very concerned that this may be continuing.”

Similar Stories

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presents report on Sri Lanka to 60th HRC

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights presents report on Sri Lanka to 60th HRC ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his report on Sri Lanka to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

HRC 60 HC Volker Türk Global update speech

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

HRC 60 HC Volker Türk Global update speech ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

DRC: UN report raises spectre of war crimes and crimes against humanity

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

DRC: UN report raises spectre of war crimes and crimes against humanity ENG FRA

A UN report on the Democratic Republic of Congo raises specter of war crimes and crimes against humanity in North and South Kivu, according to UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

Global air pollution update - WMO 04 September 2025

1

1

1

Edited News | WMO

Global air pollution update - WMO 04 September 2025 ENG FRA

As billions of people continue to breathe polluted air that causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths every year, UN climate experts on Friday highlighted how damaging microscopic smoke particles from wildfires play their part, travelling half-way across the world.

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Cameroon

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Cameroon ENG FRA

UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence made the following comment on the on-going presidential election process in Cameroon at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva. 

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Myanmar

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence on Myanmar ENG FRA

The UN Human Rights Office released a new report on Myanmar, describing death, destruction and desperation which reflect atrocities committed in 2017. 

Afghanistan earthquake update OCHA - IFRC - UNHCR

1

1

1

Edited News | OCHA , IFRC , UNHCR

Afghanistan earthquake update OCHA - IFRC - UNHCR ENG FRA

Afghanistan: Humanitarians scramble to reach survivors of deadly quake; response at ‘breaking point’

In remote eastern Afghanistan, aid workers are racing to assist survivors of Sunday’s devastating earthquake as the death toll continues to climb, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Gaza - Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA

1

1

1

Edited News | UNRWA

Gaza - Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA ENG FRA

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, repeated his urgent call for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday, amid increased military Israeli activity in the enclave’s largest city.

Gaza update - OCHA WHO 29 August 2025

1

1

1

Edited News | OCHA , WHO

Gaza update - OCHA WHO 29 August 2025 ENG FRA

Amid reports of increased Israeli military operations across Gaza City on Friday, UN aid agencies repeated urgent warnings of ongoing famine and a likely rise in preventable disease, linked to the dire living conditions in the war-shattered enclave.

OHCHR-Ravina Shamdasani: increasing executions in Iran

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

OHCHR-Ravina Shamdasani: increasing executions in Iran ENG FRA

UN calls for Iran to halt executions and move towards ending the death penalty.

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on Killing of Journalists in Gaza

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al Kheetan on Killing of Journalists in Gaza ENG FRA

The UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following comment on the killing of journalists in Gaza at the bi-weekly press briefing.

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan on “rotation” practice by Egyptian Government

1

1

1

Edited News | OHCHR

UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan on “rotation” practice by Egyptian Government ENG FRA

The UN Human Rights Office on Tuesday called on Egyptian authorities to end the practice known as “rotation”, which allows Government critics to be held arbitrarily and for prolonged periods.