UN chief: All countries will feel consequences of Ukraine war
According to an Ukrinform correspondent in New York, he stated this on Wednesday at a press conference dedicated to the presentation of a report on the conflict’s impacts on food security, energy, and financing. Earlier, he said the war in Ukraine is inflaming a three-dimensional global crisis – food, energy and finance.
The UN Secretary General said that countries must act now to save lives and livelihoods.
"Three months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we face a new reality. For those on the ground, every day brings new bloodshed and suffering. And for people around the world together with the other crises, the war is threatening to unleash an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution, leaving social and economic chaos in its wake," he said.
Furthermore, the crisis is amplifying the consequences of other challenges confronting countries, such as the climate emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic, and inequalities in resources for post-pandemic recovery.
According to the report, the number of severely food insecure people doubled from 135 million prior to the pandemic, to 276 million over just two years. The ripple effects of the war could push this number to 323 million.
An estimated 1.6 billion people in 94 countries are exposed to at least one dimension of the crisis, with around 1.2 billion living in “perfect-storm” countries severely vulnerable to all three dimensions.
The report calls for stabilizing record-high food and fuel prices, implementing social safety nets, and increasing financial support to developing countries.
