Update on the UN work in Ukraine 14.03.2022

On the humanitarian side, the situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate rapidly. Today, the UN Refugee Agency said that more than 2.8 million people have crossed international borders out of Ukraine.

Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that in Mariupol, trapped civilians face life-threatening shortages of food, water, medicine and other basic necessities. They warn that the use of explosive weapons in urban areas, particularly those with wide-area effects, carries a high risk of indiscriminate impact. They stress that parties to the conflict must abide by international law and the core principles that protect human life and dignity.  

We, along with our humanitarian partners, continue to scale up life-saving response across the country and we have reached 600,000 people with some form of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine. It is expected that many more people will be reached in the coming days, given the scope and scale of the humanitarian operation being deployed by humanitarian organizations and partners. The main humanitarian challenge remains securing safe access in areas with ongoing fighting.

On funding, the Ukraine Flash Appeal for 2022 has received $219 million so far, which represents 19 per cent. As you recall, last Friday, this value was $129 million. We thank the donors who released the pledged amounts and encourage others to release the money quickly and report their contribution to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service.