UN: 3.7M people have fled Ukraine, 13M stranded in affected areas

“Millions of Ukrainians live in constant fear of indiscriminate shelling and heavy bombardment amid the systematic pounding of cities, towns, hospitals, schools and shelters that has forced them to shelter in bunkers, day and night,” Karolina Lindholm Billing, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Representative in Ukraine, said in Lviv, the UN press service informs.

In turn, speaking to journalists in Geneva, UN World Food Programme spokesperson Tomson Phiri said that existing systems that feed tens of millions trapped inside Ukraine were “falling apart, (with) trucks and trains destroyed, airports bombed, bridges fallen, supermarkets emptied, and warehouses drained”.

“The encircled city of Mariupol is running out of its last reserves of food and water. No humanitarian aid has been allowed into the city since it was encircled,” said Phiri.

All the while the civilian death toll continues to rise, said the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner.

“The overwhelming damage and destruction is being done by weapons - explosive weapons - with wide impact areas,” she said, speaking from Uzhhorod in the west.

According to her, the use of cluster munitions has been confirmed, being potential violations of international humanitarian law.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the UN recorded at least 1,035 civilians killed and at least 1,650 injured. As noted, the figure “is likely much higher” because the data from the battlefields come later.

On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin started the large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops shell and destroy key infrastructure, massively fire on residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages using artillery, MLRS, and ballistic missiles.

Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced.

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