Access, Mobility of Civilians Along Ukraine's Contact Line Must Improve

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – All stakeholders in the conflict in Ukraine should improve access for civilians who reside along the so-called line of contact, the head of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, told a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday.

Grandi appealed to “all parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine to improve freedom of movement at checkpoints for people living near the line of contact and to allow humanitarian aid.”

The UN official said he was deeply concerned over what he saw on a recent visit to Ukraine, particularly in villages near Sloviansk, Lugansk and Donetsk. Despite a ceasefire that has been in place since 2014, residents along the conflict’s contact line continue to face everyday hardships, Grandi said.

He added that current checkpoint procedures “severely limited the ability of people to leave the conflict area, return home to visit family members or check their property.” On his trip, Grandi told reporters, he witnessed “two-kilometer-long queues at a checkpoint with elderly people and families with children.”

The UNHCR, the world body’s refugee agency, and partners are implementing programs intended to help civilians in the affect areas return to normal life.

In April 2014, Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against pro-independence militias in Donbass. Ten months later, in February 2015, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire following talks brokered by the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine – the so-called Normandy group – in Belarus’ capital, Minsk.