The UN warns that the situation in southern Ukraine is “critical” due to the lack of water and electricity
The UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, has warned that the situation in the south of the country is “critical” due to the lack of water and electricity, especially in the provinces of Kherson and Mikolaiv. Faced with the advance of the Ukrainian army, the Russian troops abandoned the city of Kherson, the only provincial capital that they had conquered in their invasion, last October, blowing up all the critical infrastructures of the city, leaving it without light, without water and no heating.
Two weeks after providing aid to the region for the first time, Brown has once again visited the regions of Mikolaiv and Kherson, where she has been “concerned” about the situation of citizens with the onset of winter, which already leaves temperatures below zero in much of Ukraine.
“Two weeks ago, the United Nations provided its first aid to supermarkets in the city of Kherson, which were completely empty. There wasn’t even a can. Now, there are three supermarkets open, but there is no electricity, running water, heating and people are leaving the city during the cold winter months,” Brown explained.
Local authorities say that now that the troops are moving away from the city, they can finally start repairing the water system. Despite this, the UN warns that the situation remains critical. The Russian soldiers, who abandoned the city and withdrew to the opposite bank of the Dnieper River, from where they continue to bombard the city. Since the withdrawal, these attacks have killed more than 30 civilians.
United Nations spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, has reported that the agency is working to “support people with services and supplies to ensure that they can be protected and stay warm during these hard months.” “To maintain the momentum of the response and the continuity of operations to support people in Ukraine during these cold winter months, continued funding is obviously critical,” he remarked. (EP)
