This is the News in Brief from the United Nations. 

Ukraine crisis: conflict must stop, Guterres urges Russia’s Putin 

The conflict in Ukraine must stop, António Guterres urged Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, warning that the offensive could lead to suffering not seen in Europe since the Balkan crisis of the 1990s. 

In a direct appeal late on Wednesday evening, ahead of the Russian offensive, the UN Secretary-General called on Mr. Putin to “bring your troops back to Russia…in the name of humanity”. 

Speaking after a flurry of diplomatic efforts in the Security Council and General Assembly to halt the military action, Mr. Guterres repeated his assessment that an attack on Ukraine would violate the UN Charter. 

The UN chief added that the consequences will likely be significant for the people of Ukraine and Russia, but also for the global economy, which is only just emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Humanitarians fear ‘devastating’ consequences from attack 

Amid reports of people fleeing en masse from the Ukrainian capital Kiev following Russia’s invasion, UN humanitarians warned on Thursday of the ‘devastating’ consequences of military action. 

UN refugee agency chief, Filippo Grandi, issued an alert saying that there were “no winners in war but countless lives will be torn apart.”   

Civilian lives and infrastructure “must be protected and safeguarded at all times”, in line with international humanitarian law,” Mr. Grandi continued, adding that the UN is working with Ukrainian authorities and partners to provide humanitarian assistance “wherever necessary and possible.” 

He added: “To that effect, security and access for humanitarian efforts must be guaranteed.” 

7.5 million children in Ukraine at risk from conflict: UNICEF  

Echoing that message, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that it was deeply concerned for the “lives and wellbeing” of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children.  

UNICEF chief Catherine Russell noted that “heavy weapons fire” along the contact line in the east of the country had already damaged critical water infrastructure and education facilities in recent days.  

Unless the fighting subsides, tens of thousands of families could be forcibly displaced, “dramatically escalating humanitarian needs,” Ms. Russell warned.  

She reminded that the past eight years of conflict have inflicted “profound and lasting damage” to children on both sides of the line of contact.  

“The children of Ukraine need peace, desperately, now,” she said.  

Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund continues to scale up life-saving programmes for children in eastern Ukraine as UNICEF-supported mobile teams also provide psychosocial care to children “traumatized by chronic insecurity”. 

Daniel Johnson, UN News