HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE MUST BE PROTECTED: STATEMENT BY THE HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR UKRAINE, DENISE BROWN, ON THE LATEST ATTACKS AFFECTING AID WORKERS IN UKRAINE
13 July 2023
It is extremely disturbing to hear that our colleagues from the Ukrainian NGO Mission Proliska came under fire yesterday in the Kharkiv region, while delivering much-needed humanitarian aid to families facing the horrors of Russia’s invasion. The Proliska team was using a clearly marked vehicle – a humanitarian vehicle, protected under international humanitarian law.
Earlier this week, on 9 July, I once again had to condemn a strike affecting humanitarian assistance in the front-line town of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region. And following that tragic incident, another attack in Kherson impacted the delivery of humanitarian aid on 11 July. In each of these three unacceptable attacks, civilians have been impacted.
As humanitarians, we have one purpose: saving and protecting the people of Ukraine whose lives have been upended by Russia’s invasion. These attacks only highlight the challenges we are facing, exacerbated by the lack of access to support Ukrainians in areas currently under Russian control.
International humanitarian law protects civilians and civilian infrastructure, including humanitarian workers. They must never be a target.
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Saviano Abreu
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