Briefing the Security Council on the situation in eastern Ukraine, the top United Nations political and humanitarian officials underlined today that continuing fighting in the region, with only short periods of respite, have exasperated human suffering.

Amid outburst of violence in Ukraine, the United Nations Security Council and the top humanitarian official there expressed grave concern today about the “dangerous deterioration” of the situation in the country’s eastern region and its severe impact on the local civilian population.

A new United Nations report out today has confirmed that Ukrainians living close to the “contact line” – the area between Government-controlled and armed group-controlled territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – not only suffer due to fighting near their homes but also face the threat of landmines and unexploded ordinance as well as have to contend with severe restrictions on movement.