News in Brief 27 February 2023
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One year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nearly half the population – roughly 18 million people – need humanitarian aid and protection, the United Nations said on Friday.
The UN chief told the Security Council on Friday that “we need peace” in Ukraine, calling for urgent action on multiple fronts.
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The people of Ukraine remain resilient a year since Russia’s 24 February 2022 invasion but “humanitarian aid is as necessary as ever,” according to the UN’s most senior official in the country.
It’s been a year since Russian forces invaded neighbouring Ukraine, the beginning of a conflict that led to the displacement of more than 14 million Ukrainians, and around 40 per cent of the population in need of humanitarian aid.
Several months into the fighting, Denise Brown took up her position as Resident Coordinator, the most senior UN official in Ukraine. She told Conor Lennon from UN News that, despite the huge challenges faced by the Ukrainian people, their defining feature has been their courage, and their determination.
Music: Within the Earth, Ketsa
One year since Russia invaded Ukraine, UN food security experts are more concerned than ever about the global cost of living crisis that the war has fuelled.
In 2023, they’ve warned that the conflict could leave many developing countries – and particularly in Africa - facing potentially dire shortages of the essential foodstuffs that they used to import from the Black Sea neighbours.
The UN General Assembly on Thursday called for ending the war in Ukraine and demanded Russia’s immediate withdrawal from the country, in line with the UN Charter.
This Friday will mark a year since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
For the World Health Organization (WHO), providing humanitarian support is the key priority during conflicts and other crises, said Dr. Jarno Habicht, the agency’s representative in the country.
Ahead of the grim anniversary, he spoke to UN News’s Andrei Muchnik about WHO’s ongoing operations amid missile and drone attacks, and how many local colleagues “have lost everything except their work”.
Dr. Habicht began by explaining what initially brought him to Ukraine.