Source The United Nations
Media www.rajawalisiber.com – Security Council Briefing by Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on Ukraine and the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
“Only last week in Kherson, I visited some months back, residential buildings, only last week, a school, an outpatient hospital, and an elderly care facility were reportedly damaged, leaving scores of civilians needing shelter and healthcare. And missile strikes in Odesa hit a humanitarian storage warehouse. A Ukrainian Red Cross mobile hospital in Mykolaiv was also hit. Humanitarian supplies and vital medical equipment were destroyed.”
“More is needed to take our efforts to scale. The biggest challenge remains the impediments to reaching all areas in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia currently under the military control of the Russian Federation.
” “Despite 14 months of notifying the parties of our intentions through this system, we have not been able to deliver assistance to communities along the front line in areas under the military control of the Russian Federation, not once.”
“Food exported under the Black Sea Initiative – and food and fertilizer exports from the Russian Federation – continue to make a crucial contribution to food security at the global level. More than 30 million metric tons of cargo have now been safely exported from Ukrainian ports under the Initiative, of which over 55 percent to developing countries and close to 6 per cent has gone directly to Least Developed Countries. Of these 30 million metric tons just under 600,000 metric tons of wheat transported by the World Food Programme, in direct support of humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen, places we often discuss in this chamber.”
“For the reasons I have set out, continuation of the Black Sea Initiative is critical, as is recommitment by the parties to its smooth and efficient operation. We call on all parties to meet their responsibilities as the world watches this very closely.”