Ukraine

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today warned that at least 573,000 children under the age of five are at risk of suffering from malnutrition in Malawi. UNICEF noted that the country is still grappling with the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Freddy, with over 650,000 people internally displaced.

In Sudan, the World Food Programme says it has now reached over 300,000 people since restarting emergency food distributions there two weeks ago. Two cargo planes from the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service carrying critical supplies for United Nations agencies and aid partners have arrived in Port Sudan.

Preventing the diversion of arms transferred to Ukraine is essential for security and stability in that country and beyond, a senior United Nations disarmament official told the Security Council today, as members alternately called for dialogue over proliferation or underscored Ukraine’s right to defend itself from the permanent member that requested the meeting.

Two months after Tropical Cyclone Freddy devastated Malawi, United Nations agencies continue to support the Government-led response. While humanitarian assistance has reached 1.4 million people, more funding is needed to continue this work and the flash appeal — only 21 per cent funded — is asking for $116 million.

While intensive discussions are ongoing to secure an extension and improvements to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, rising attacks on civilians are impacting humanitarian aid, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today, as speakers took stock of the ongoing fallout of the war on Ukraine which is inching past the fifteenth month mark.

In Somalia, the United Nations and the Government have just unveiled a revamped multi-donor trust fund in support of the country’s development priorities. The Somalia Joint Fund will provide flexible funding to address key challenges facing the country and its people.

A new United Nations report estimates that $15 billion will be needed for Syria to recover, three months after the earthquake. The Syria Earthquake Recovery Needs Assessment, a collaborative effort among 11 United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, puts the total damages and losses at almost $9 billion.

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) dispatched two patrols to protect civilians after receiving two reports yesterday about the presence of members of the CODECO armed group in Blukwa, near Djugu, in Ituri Province, forcing the armed group to withdraw.

In Peru, the United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration are concerned about the situation in Tacna, in the southern part of the country, where refugees and migrants have been stranded, in many cases without food, without water, without shelter or health care for three months now.

The Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) today condemned the arson incident against the Saint Pantelija Orthodox Church in Prizren, which took place earlier this week. She noted that attacks against religious and cultural sites undermine interethnic and interreligious relations.