At the end of a four-day official visit to Kyiv, Martin Griffiths described the deadly threat of daily artillery attacks on the southern port city of Kherson.
Today, more than 18 million people in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN humanitarian. About 7.83 million have fled the country and 6.5 million are internally displaced.
Mykolaiv is suffering
Mr Griffiths said he spoke to families in the nearby town of Mykolaiv who were taking shelter in a bunker after being recently displaced from villages destroyed by shelling.
Despite the destruction These people “were returning daily to try and restart their lives“, he said.
But before anyone can go home, vast areas have to be demined, Mr Griffiths continued, recalling the Ukrainian Prime Minister’s assessment that the country was probably the most mine-ridden nation in the world.
“You can’t bring the country back to production without deminingMr Griffiths said, noting that about half a million hectares of agricultural land were affected in Kherson alone. “So the urgent international priority for the mines is that we too will do what we can.”
power play
A reliable electricity supply is even more important for Ukraine’s recovery, Mr Griffiths said, describing it as the most important requirement across the country.
“This issue is of key importance precisely because civilians are suffering from the lack of electricity, civilians who, under international law, should not be suffering in a conflict,” he said.
Everyone involved in the war in Ukraine wanted their children to go back to school and other signs of normality, Mr Griffiths stressed. The United Nations would do whatever it takes to make that happen, he added.
“Even now, even in places like Kherson, where the war is still going on and these people on the right bank are still being shot at every day – restart, boost the economy, anything we can do at the UN to support this effort – we like to do it.”
Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, visits Kherson during his four-day visit to Ukraine.
Test at the latest
Meanwhile, grim details about the killing of civilians by Russian forces in Ukraine were shared in Geneva Human Rights Council on Thursday.
At the request of the Council UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk information provided between February 24 and April 6 in more than 100 villages and towns in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions summoned by his office for “summary executions and attacks on individual civilians”.
The research took place during field visits after Russian troops withdrew. Witnesses and survivors provided first-hand accounts supplemented by other sources, enabling the Office of the High Commissioner to document the killings of 441 civilians: 341 men, 72 women, 20 boys and eight girls.
“In some cases, Russian soldiers executed civilians in makeshift detention centers‘ said the High Commissioner. “Other were executed on the spot after security checks – in their houses, yards and doors. Even if the victim has clearly shown that they are not a threat, for example by raising their hands in the air.”
Mr Türk, noting that investigators were also trying to confirm a further 198 alleged killings, added that there was “strong evidence” of the summary executions described in his office’s report may constitute the war crime of premeditated homicide.
In his address to the Council, the UN attorney general insisted that Russian armed forces’ armored vehicles and tanks had “fired on residential buildings and killed civilians in their homes. Civilians have been hit on roads while moving within or between settlements or commuting to work.”
Bucha was the worst hit, Mr Türk said, noting that 73 civilians (54 men, 16 women, two boys and one girl) were killed in the city alone between March 4 and 30.
“There were 14 civilians (10 men, three women and one girl) at a distance of 150 meters on Yablunska Street. shot and left where they fell‘ said the High Commissioner. “My office is in the process of confirming 105 more alleged killings of civilians in Bucha.”
