UN CONVOY CAME UNDER ATTACK WHILE DELIVERING AID TO A FRONT-LINE COMMUNITY IN THE KHERSON REGION

Today, an inter-agency convoy of four humanitarian trucks, clearly marked as belonging to the UN, carrying aid, came under attack by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation when delivering aid to Bilozerka Town in the Kherson Region.

Humanitarian workers, including from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ukraine and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Ukraine, were on a mission to provide humanitarian aid to a heavily war-impacted community that had not received assistance for months. When the aid workers were on site, intensive artillery fire started, and later, during offloading, two clearly marked trucks of the World Food Programme were targeted by first-person-view drones. Fortunately, the humanitarian workers were not injured, but two trucks were damaged and set on fire. 

Such attacks are utterly unacceptable. Aid workers are protected by international humanitarian law and should never be attacked. 

Civilians remaining in front-line areas are heavily reliant on humanitarian assistance, and aid workers should be able to deliver life-saving assistance safely. 

Deliberately targeting humanitarians and humanitarian assets is a gross violation of international humanitarian law and might amount to a war crime.

The Kherson Region has also seen an increase in drone attacks, harming civilians. The attacks must stop.

All measures should be taken to protect civilians and humanitarian workers. International humanitarian law must be respected.