MOSCOW, August 05./ITAR-TASS/.The situation in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine is on the brink of humanitarian disaster, while the Ukrainian authorities refuse to admit this, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.
The United Nations, the International Organization for Migration and the ICRC have confirmed concerns in connection with grave humanitarian effects from Kiev’s military operation in the southeast of Ukraine and expressed readiness to join discussion on the deployment of a humanitarian mission — Russian Foreign Ministry.
“In contacts of the Russian side with the UN leadership, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration and the International Committee of the Red Cross, our partners confirmed that they shared concerns about grave humanitarian effects from Kiev’s military operation in the southeast of Ukraine, and on the whole welcomed our initiatives and expressed readiness to join discussion on the deployment of a humanitarian mission,” the ministry said.
“However, despite data from relevant international agencies, the Ukrainian authorities refuse to admit obvious for all humanitarian problems in the southeast of Ukraine,” it said.
“We consider this position, when the Kiev authorities dodge cooperation in meeting humanitarian needs of the population affected by the conflict, as absolutely irresponsible,” the ministry went on.
“The Russian side believes it is necessary to mobilize the international community towards immediate assistance to the residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where the situation is on the brink of humanitarian disaster, and with this in view it will be insistently advancing the initiative on a humanitarian mission for that Ukrainian region,” the ministry said.
http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/743655
5/8/14
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The eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk has declared a state of humanitarian catastrophe over a lack of medical supplies, electricity, lighting, mobile and internet communication. Some 250,000 civilians are unable to leave, the statement also says......
ReplyDelete“As of August 5, Lugansk remains disconnected from electricity. The situation remains critical on the city’s territory. Lugansk is has no energy, is in a state of humanitarian catastrophe. Since Sunday, part of the population in the region’s center have been without light or water, as well as mobile and internet communication,” the statement on the city council website read.
Due to high temperatures and the damage to most community services’ cars, rubbish collection “completely stopped,” which is why the city is basically “on the brink of an ecological catastrophe,” the administration said.
“Today 250,000 civilian Lugansk residents - mainly retirees and families with children who don’t have the money to leave the city and who have nowhere to go - have been the hostages to the situation: the people are forced to live in the conditions of armed clashes, with the lacking communications, the remaining nutrition disappearing from the counter of shops and supermarkets which are still working,” according to the statement.
An especially burning issue has become the lack of medical supplies.
“People can’t purchase the essential medical supplies, only a handful of drugstores are operating,” the statement added....................http://rt.com/news/178068-ukraine-lugansk-humanitarian-crisis/
5/8/14
Ukraine rebel-held Donetsk sees 'heavy fighting'...
ReplyDeleteHeavy fighting has erupted in a suburb of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, local officials say.
At least two civilians were killed as government forces battled to retake the city from pro-Russia separatists, Donetsk city council confirmed.
Reports say powerful blasts and shooting were heard in the city.
Ukrainian government forces have made steady gains in recent weeks, encircling Donetsk and another rebel stronghold, Luhansk.
Power cuts
"As of 17:00 (14:00 GMT), there are active military hostilities going on in the Petrovksy district of Donetsk," Donetsk city council said on Tuesday, quoted by Ukraine's Unian news agency.
Electricity has been cut in some parts of the district after shells hit substations in the area, Unian added.
It said that gunfire - including heavy weapons - could also be heard in other parts of the city.............http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28665050
Ukraine: UN urges central registration system amid rising internal displacement...
ReplyDelete5 August 2014 – With thousands fleeing the intensifying violence in eastern Ukraine, the United Nations refugee agency today urged the Government to establish a central registration system which would help coordinate relief efforts for the already 117,000 internally displaced people (IDPs).
“In the past seven days more than 6,200 people have been forced from their homes,” Vincent Cochetel, the Director for the European Bureau at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told reporters in Geneva today.
“The current lack of a systematic and uniform system hampers the coordination and implementation of relief efforts. This is also important as the Ukrainian authorities make their preparations for winter. Most of the current shelters in use are not suitable for the cold winter months,” he added.
The number of people displaced from the Luhansk and Donetsk eastern regions had risen sharply from 2,600 in early June to 102,600 at the start of this month. People from eastern Ukraine now make up 87 per cent of the country’s total displaced population while those from the Crimea region number some 15,200 people.
UNHCR also reports that a larger number of Ukrainians are arriving and staying in Russia under the visa-free regime. The Russian authorities estimate that around 730,000 Ukrainians, including the 168,000 seen by the Federal Migration Service, have arrived since the beginning of the year under this programme.
People fleeing eastern Ukraine face increasing difficulties, including access to banking services. Basic infrastructure has been heavily affected by the violence, with scarcity of drinking water becoming increasingly common. According to UNHCR, many houses and buildings have been partially or totally destroyed by conflict in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Some people have also expressed fears of persecution for their political views or ethnicity, while others are worried about forced recruitment by either side. Some talked of incidents of abduction, extortion and harassment in their neighbourhoods. And most Ukrainians leaving their country are not applying for refugee status for fear that it would lead to complications.......................http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48414#.U-EzO6Pm7gw
Ucraina: Sikorski, Russia aumenta truppe al confine...
ReplyDeleteVarsavia, 5 ago. - 'La Russia ha concentrato molte truppe al confine con l'Ucraina. Questa cose si fanno per esercitare pressione o per invadere'. Lo afferma il ministro degli Esteri polacco, Radoslaw Sikorski, in una intervista a TVN24. Alla domanda su quale opzione verra' scelta, Sikorski ha risposto: 'Lo sapremo molto presto' .
http://www.repubblica.it/ultimora/24ore/nazionale/news-dettaglio/4530759
Polish PM says threat of Russia's intervention in Ukraine has risen....
Delete(Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday the threat of a direct intervention by Russia's military in Ukraine has risen over the last couple of days.
"We have reasons to suspect - we have been receiving such information in the last several hours - that the risk of a direct intervention (by Russia's military in Ukraine) is for sure higher than it was several days ago," Tusk told a news conference.
Russia has been conducting exercises near the border with Ukraine, raising concerns on the ground and in a number of Western capitals.
Moscow has also called an emergency meeting of the United Nations' Security Council over what it described as a "humanitarian situation" in Ukraine.
"If (it) were to come to a direct intervention of Russian forces in Ukraine than this would obviously be a qualitatively new situation and in my opinion nobody has a good, unequivocal answer today how the Western community should react to that," Tusk said.
Tusk also said that sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia will be costly for Europe's economy, but a lack of reaction to Russia's actions during the Ukraine crisis would have the most "catastrophic" consequences.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to prepare retaliatory measures against the latest round of Western sanctions.
(Reporting by Wiktor Szary; Writing by Marcin Goettig Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/06/us-ukraine-crisis-russia-war-idUSKBN0G60NZ20140806?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews