UNHCR is unable to communicate with its employees in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol

MADRID, March 31 (Royals Blue) –

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has stated that it is unable to communicate with its employees in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol due to the extent of the fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the city.

“Some managed to get out. Some are inside and we cannot communicate with them at the moment,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, in an interview with the US network CNN from Lviv.

On the other hand, he has asked Russia for “firm commitments” that there will be no fighting to carry out humanitarian corridors in the city and has added that it is “very complex”, so these guarantees are needed.

Grandi has discussed with the Ukrainian authorities, as well as with senior officials from the United Nations and other partners, how to increase their support for the people affected and displaced “by this senseless war,” he said on Wednesday on his official Twitter profile. .

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has also confirmed “damage” to one of its warehouses in Mariupol as a result of fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, although it has specified that there is currently no team on the ground.

In a statement, the organization said it distributed supplies to the warehouse in early March, including medical supplies for hospitals and resources for people living in shelters. As a result, no ICRC staff have been in the warehouse since 15 March and the organization “does not know” whether the facilities have been used since then.

In this sense, the ICRC has lamented that, despite the “massive” humanitarian needs in the city, it has not been able to provide more supplies due to the “intensity” of the fighting and the “absence” of an agreement between the parties that serve to allow humanitarian aid to pass safely.

The Ukrainian city of Mariúpol, the main Ukrainian port on the shore of the Sea of ​​Azov, has become the target of a siege in recent days that keeps the population isolated and with hardly any basic supplies. The few testimonies that come from the area show a humanitarian disaster of the first order.

The UN High Commissioner has also confirmed this Wednesday more than four million Ukrainian refugees since Russia began its invasion on February 24, according to a figure that was already anticipated shortly after the start of the military offensive.

The United Nations warned that there would be between four and five million refugees and, with tens of thousands of daily departures, the one from Ukraine has already established itself as the fastest exodus recorded in Europe since World War II. In total, more than ten million Ukrainians have had to leave their homes in just one month.