Publish: 08 Mar 2022, 04:35 pm
Photo: Collected
The United Nations needs safe
passage to deliver humanitarian aid to conflict zones in Ukraine, a senior
official with the organization told the Security Council on Monday.
"Civilians in places like
Mariupol, Kharkiv, Melitopol and elsewhere desperately need aid, especially
life-saving medical supplies," undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs
Martin Griffiths told an emergency meeting on the disaster sparked by Russia's
invasion.
Griffiths urged all sides to
ensure that civilians, homes, and infrastructure in Ukraine were safeguarded.
"This includes allowing safe
passage for civilians to leave areas of active hostilities on a voluntary
basis, in the direction they choose," he said, after Ukraine rejected an
earlier deal that would only allow its civilians to evacuate into Russia or
Belarus.
The meeting came as Ukraine and
Russia seek an agreement on creating "humanitarian corridors" out of
pummeled cities, as the civilian toll from the Russian assault mounts.
Russia said Monday it would open
humanitarian corridors on Tuesday from 0700 GMT, subject to Ukraine's approval,
listing evacuation routes from Kyiv as well as Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Sumy --
all of which have been under heavy Russian attack.
Kyiv's UN ambassador, Sergiy
Kyslytsya, said the conflict had blocked exports through Ukraine's seaports,
cutting off vast quantities of agricultural goods vital to the world's food
supplies.
"The implications at the
global level will be catastrophic," said Kyslytsya, noting that his
country produces 55 percent of the world's sunflower oil.
He also warned of the health
threat from so many dead lying uncollected on the battlefield.
"We are speaking about
dozens of thousands of bodies decomposing in the fields of Ukraine, I'm talking
about the bodies of the Russian soldiers," he said, calling on the
International Committee of the Red Cross to help repatriate fallen combatants
and prisoners of war.
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