UNITED NATIONS, August 23 - Speaking on the humanitarian crisis in Eastern Ukraine, the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos on Saturday said the UN “recognizes that there are parts of this region where the conflict makes it difficult to get to the people who need assistance.”
Speaking from the city of Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine, Amos said the UN is “scaling up operational capacity, additional supplies, and looking at ways in which we can get into those more difficult parts of Ukraine.”
“We at the United Nations have been extremely concerned at the way the situation in Ukraine has deteriorated over the last few months. The longer the conflict goes on, the more impact it has on ordinary people and the greater the number of people who are displaced,” she said.
On August 22, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “urged all sides, in particular Ukraine and the Russian Federation, to continue to work together, in coordination with the international community, to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches the most affected areas.”
The UN's Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman was in Kiev earlier this week, meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and other officials. He and Amos are likely to brief the Security Council about their visits when they return.
