By Diyar Guldogan
WASHINGTON (AA) - A UN official on Tuesday warned about the humanitarian toll of the Russia-Ukraine war, and that attacks on cities and energy systems are pushing millions of Ukrainians to the brink as winter deepens.
"Today, the humanitarian consequences are clear: attacks harming energy systems are pushing cities toward blackout; strikes in residential areas are uprooting families mid-winter; and humanitarian access constraints are depriving the most vulnerable where suffering is highest," Joyce Msuya, assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator, told a Security Council meeting.
Msuya urged council members to use their influence to act immediately on three critical fronts – ensure the rules of war are upheld in practice, guarantee safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to civilians in need, fully fund humanitarian operations at a scale commensurate with the rapidly growing needs.
"The people of Ukraine do not have the privilege of waiting for better conditions. They are enduring a fourth winter since the escalation of this war, under fire and in the dark.
"What they need from this Council is not only sympathy but concrete action to reduce harm and safeguard the humanitarian action that stands between survival and catastrophe," she said.
With millions at risk and humanitarian access tightening in several conflict-affected regions, Msuya said the decisions made by world powers in the coming days will shape the fate of countless civilians.
"Your actions in the coming weeks will influence whether this winter becomes another chapter of avoidable suffering, or a moment when the Council helped prevent it," she added.