The UN Humanitarian Office (OCHA) said that it would move its aid eastwards in Ukraine and plans aid convoys to the rebel regions of Luhansk and Donetsk next week as fighting shifts.
OCHA spokesperson, Jens Laerke, told a press briefing on Friday that “we have in our planning convoys to go there I understand already next week. Whether that will happen or not, will also depend on the security situation.’’
Laerke called the regions that Russia had recognised as independent states; areas of heightened humanitarian concern.
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths visited Ukraine and Russia where he met with both parties and discussed arrangements for a possible humanitarian ceasefire to the six-week-old conflict.
“For now, we don’t have a commitment to any ceasefire from either of the two parties,” Laerke added, saying this would be an “incremental process” and that Griffiths would continue efforts to seek agreement on localised ceasefires.
During his visit, he told Ukraine’s government that international UN staff would be returning to Kyiv in the coming days following the withdrawal of Russian troops from nearby areas.
More humanitarian hubs were also being set up further east, such as Dnipro. “The idea was to get as physically close to people most in need as possible.”
On Thursday, he visited Bucha where he saw a mass grave containing 280 bodies and repeated UN’s calls for an immediate, independent investigation.
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) spokesperson said that the agency had trained almost 1,500 health workers to respond to a possible “chemical incident” in Ukraine.
Laerke said that the body was also providing treatments in case of chemical exposure and protective gear.
The UN agency on Thursday said that it was preparing for possible “chemical assaults” in a sign it was taking warnings that had emerged from both the West and Moscow seriously.