UN Chief Launches Effort For Ukraine Humanitarian Cease-Fire

The United Nations chief has launched an initiative to immediately explore possible arrangements for “a humanitarian cease-fire in Ukraine” in order to allow the delivery of desperately needed aid.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he used his “good offices” and asked Undersecretary-General Martin Griffiths, head of the U.N.’s worldwide humanitarian operations, to explore the possibility of a cease-fire with Russia and Ukraine.

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly, by an overwhelming majority of about 140 nations, has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Ukraine twice — on March 2 and on March 24 — and Guterres told reporters he thinks “this is the moment” for the United Nations “to assume the initiative.”

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the secretary-general said, there has been a “senseless loss of thousands of lives,” displacement of 10 million people, systematic destruction of homes, schools, hospitals and other essential infrastructure, “and skyrocketing food and energy prices worldwide.”

Over the past month, U.N. humanitarian agencies and their partners have provided nearly 900,000 people, mainly in eastern Ukraine, with food, shelter, water and hygiene supplies, and the U.N. World Food Program is scaling up to reach 1.2 million people by mid-April.

Osmat Lubrani, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, said that on Monday U.N. agencies were able to bring food, medical supplies and household items to the besieged northeastern city of Kharkiv.

He said, the Ukrainian Red Cross will deliver them to the most vulnerable communities there as well as other hard-to-reach areas.