Humanitarian assistance from international organizations delivered to Kherson

A humanitarian convoy with assistance from international organizations has arrived in Kherson.

That's according to a statement posted on the website of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The convoy, led by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and sister UN Agencies – the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP), on November 14 travelled to Kherson city to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance to civilian communities, the statement said.

This inter-agency humanitarian convoy, the first since Russian forces took control of the city in March this year, comes less than 72 hours after the Government of Ukraine regained control of the city. 

"We saw houses along the way that had been destroyed or severely damaged and heard how people are struggling to meet their most basic needs, like food and water, and stay warm, as the electricity supply lines have been destroyed," said UNHCR Representative in Ukraine, Karolina Lindholm Billing, who participated in the convoy.

As part of this initial effort to reach 6,000 people, UNHCR provided high thermal blankets, sleeping bags, bed linen, solar lamps, tarpaulin and jerrycans.

"It was important to deliver this first convoy with assistance quickly. Now, the priority is to continue, and bring larger volumes of assistance to the people of Kherson city and oblast as winter is around the corner and it will add another layer of vulnerability," said Karolina Lindholm Billing.

UNHCR has previously contributed to two inter-agency convoys to the Kherson region, in October and November, to settlements where the Government of Ukraine had regained control, assisting a further 10,000 people.

Since the beginning of the war, UNHCR has delivered humanitarian aid through 489 convoys – 20 interagency and 469 organized by UNHCR reaching around 325,000 conflict-affected and displaced people with essential and winterized items.

Photo credit: UNHCR