While tens of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the fighting have already arrived in neighboring countries such as Poland and Romania, the UN is trying to organize itself to provide humanitarian aid to the population who have remained in the country invaded since Thursday by Russia.
The UN has put the number of people displaced by the conflict at 100,000 in 24 hours. At least 1.8 million people will be forced to flee their homes in the coming days, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths said on Friday (February 25th). He therefore asked “safe and unimpeded access” to provide humanitarian aid “in all conflict-affected regions of Ukraine”.
Before the start of the conflict, the UN was already providing aid to around 3 million people, particularly in eastern Ukraine, a part destabilized by the secession of pro-Russian separatists from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, he said. he recalled.
On Saturday noon, Poland reported that 100,000 Ukrainians had crossed the Polish border in 36 hours. Thousands of others, sometimes equipped with the bare minimum, arrived in Romania and Hungary and as far as Germany. “Today we had 75 Ukrainians. It’s not a lot, but we expect a lot more in the days to come.”explains Sascha Langenbach, spokesperson for the German capital’s migrant management body.
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In anticipation of a massive influx of exiles, a council of interior ministers of the European Union will be held this Sunday afternoon in Brussels, under the chairmanship of French minister Gerald Darmanin. The discussions will focus on the management of the borders of the countries of arrival – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania -, which is also a common external border of the EU; assistance with reception and registration operations; and on a possible distribution of potential asylum seekers in other EU countries.
In Paris, it is pointed out that Poland and Hungary were in 2015 the countries most opposed to the distribution of migrants fleeing the war in Syria. ” This time, it is to them that solidarity will be offered “, we note at the Elysée. ” It will be important to show the Union’s ability to show solidarity with the most exposed countries and to prove that we can be effective”.
“France will assume its responsibilities”, we add from the same source, without further details. A sensitive subject in the context of the next presidential election because some candidates claim that French society would not be able to support the arrival in number of new asylum seekers.
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In New York, the UN envoys for children in armed conflict and on violence against children, Virginia Gamba and Najat Maalla M’jid, for their part reminded ” all parties “ to the conflict, in or around Ukraine, that the protection of civilians should remain “their first priority”. “The 7.5 million children in Ukraine must be protected from the consequences of the conflict” and “must not be recruited or used”says their press release.
“We call on all parties to refrain from attacking civilian infrastructure, especially those that impact children – this includes schools and medical facilities as well as water and sanitation systems”added the two UN officials.
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