© UNHCR/Filip Loncar
I strongly condemn last night’s Russian missile and drone attack on Dnipro, that claimed at least two civilian lives, injured more, and also hit a UNHCR-contracted warehouse, resulting in the destruction of significant amounts of humanitarian aid and shelter materials.
I send my deepest condolences to the families of the two warehouse workers who lost their lives in this horrific attack as well as to the families of civilians killed in other attacks across the country in the last 24 hours.
© UNHCR/Filip Loncar
The warehouse was struck by a ballistic missile and caught fire. Firefighters are still responding on site, but according to preliminary assessments some 900 pallets of UNHCR aid items – with a value of more than USD 1 million – have been destroyed. These aid items would have supported thousands of forcibly displaced and war-affected people in Dnipropetrovsk and neighboring frontline regions.
The destroyed stock includes basic relief items such as blankets, sleeping mats, hygiene kits, which UNHCR and NGO partners distribute to evacuees and other vulnerable people in collective sites and transit sites as well as shelter materials used for emergency response after attacks and more durable repairs of war-damaged homes.
UNHCR is in dialogue with authorities, partners and other UN agencies to ensure that we can replenish our needed aid items and locate alternative warehouse space, allowing us to continue our work for the people we are here to help.
It is absolutely abhorrent that once again, premises of humanitarian work and aid items are damaged in these relentless air strikes, just as we witness repeatedly how humanitarian workers are being targeted when doing their jobs and delivering aid to those most in need.
Civilians and humanitarians are explicitly protected by international law. These attacks must stop.
Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth, Representative of UNHCR in Ukraine
