Antonio Guterres was speaking at a day-long international summit in Paris reportedly attended by leaders from around 50 nations, at which an agreement was reached to deliver some 1 billion euros in new financing to repair the power grid, water systems and health facilities damaged by Russian missile attacks.
The secretary-general said around 10 million consumers were without electricity and millions without water and heat as winter temperatures plummet.
direct support
“In the past months Humanitarian workers have provided direct winter aid to more than 630,000 civiliansand 400 generators have been distributed to critical facilities,” he added.
“But all of this is a drop in the ocean. The scale of the destruction across the country calls for strong support from the international community — one that goes well beyond humanitarian assistance.
“We must invest in Ukraine’s robust recovery and reconstruction to prevent the current crisis Plunge into poverty, hunger and misery for millions of Ukrainians.”
Health service under fire: WHO
Previously, the UN health authority WHOissued a new warning about the physical and mental toll on those living with the conflict.
The agency confirmed that health services in Ukraine have continued to come under fire, at least with 715 confirmed attacks on medical facilities and workerssince the Russian invasion on February 24th.
In Geneva, WHO spokeswoman Dr. Margaret Harris also on access to people living with HIV in dangerous or inaccessible areas in eastern Ukraine:
“We are very concerned about the large number of people living with HIV; People of Donetesk region, in particular who could not get their medication. We really need humanitarian corridors, we really need the opportunity, the chance to help the many, many people in need.”
A woman looks at the rubble littering her home in Kharkivska Oblast, Ukraine.
Rise in respiratory diseases
dr Harris explained that repeated attacks on power infrastructure have resulted in daily blackouts for many, leaving people little choice but to burn what they can find to keep warm, often in cramped and unventilated spaces.
These fires are particularly harmful to the lungs of children and the elderly, she said, adding that there is also a “large increase” in respiratory diseases such as bronchiolitis and bronchitis.
A “major flu epidemic” is also underway and there are concerns about outbreaks of diphtheria and measles in large unvaccinated populations, the WHO spokesman said.
UN chief in Kherson
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths is on the second day of his visit to the country, spending Tuesday in Kherson, a month after government forces regained control of Ukraine’s second city.
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told correspondents in New York that in recent days “many houses and other civilian infrastructure, including a school and a medical facility, have been damaged by shelling, according to local authorities.”
Over the past month, humanitarian convoys have brought water, food, medicine, blankets and other essential supplies for the civilian population of Kherson, including generators for hospitals and schools to keep them running.
“Mr Griffiths visited one of 22 resilience points where people can warm up when they have no electricity or heating at home due to the energy crisis,” Mr Dujarric said.
