The UN coordinator in Ukraine, Amin Awad, considered this Friday that the war will not have a winner, in a declaration of 100 days of “suffering, devastation and destruction on a large scale” in the country.
This war will have no winner and, instead, we have witnessed how much has been lost: lives, houses, jobs and prosperity,” Awad said, quoted by the Spanish EFE and French AFP agencies.
At a press conference in kyiv for accredited media at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Awad said that at least 15.7 million people in Ukraine, equivalent to a third of the country’s population, “are in urgent need of assistance and protection”. “.
“We need peace. The war must end“Insisted the UN representative, at a time when negotiations between kyiv and Moscow have been stalled for weeks.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 to “demilitarize and denazify” the neighboring country, which was part of the former Soviet Union.
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In recent weeks, fighting has intensified in the east, in the Donbass region, considered a priority target for Moscow, and in the south, where pro-Russians have admitted the possibility of Russia annexing the occupied territories.
“In just over three months, nearly 14 million Ukrainians were forced to flee their homesmost of them women and children,” said Awad, considering that it is something “unprecedented in history.”
Awad said an additional 15-16 million people “remain in their homes but have been similarly affected by loss of jobs or the ability to move.”
The Sudanese diplomat also warned about the need to “quickly find a strategy to support millions of people” next winter, given the “destruction of many of the power plants and the loss of alternative energy sources” in Ukraine.
“It is already June, winter is just around the corner and in this part of the world temperatures are below zero”Awad remembered.
The balance of casualties in the war is unknown, but the UN confirmed the death of 4,200 civilians in armed attacks, which also caused 4,000 injuries, he said.
According to Awad, 269 hospitals and other health facilities were attacked and five million children were unable to attend school.
Awad warned that “1.7 billion people in the world could be affected by shortages of wheat and other grains,” given that Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s top food exporters.
He even mentioned that Ukraine guaranteed “about 15 to 20% of the world’s food needs”.
“These foods are on hold and another harvest season is coming,” he recalled.
The situation is already having an impact in areas dependent on international humanitarian aid, such as the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, said Awad, who stressed the urgency of unblocking food routes to reduce the global crisis.
“Unlocking trade in the Black Sea must be a priorityand not doing so can lead to hunger, instability and mass migration around the world”, he warned.
Another consequence is global inflation, with “countries in arrears on their debt”, such as Sri Lanka, which “is unable to pay its loans”.
Amin Awad was appointed UN crisis coordinator in Ukraine by the organization’s secretary-generalAntónio Guterres, in February, after the Russian invasion.
Source: Observadora
