Shownotes Transcript
This is UN News Today with me, Daniel Johnson. The headlines: In Ukraine, Russian attacks are intensifying, says UNHCR. In famine-struck Sudan, A-teams reach desperate families in Khartoum. And to Myanmar, where the World Health Organization appeals for more help as disease stalks the country's earthquake survivors.
Frontline areas in Ukraine have continued to empty amid escalating Russian attacks, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday, as Kyiv and other major cities recover from this week's deadly missile and drone strikes.
Warning of ongoing displacement and deepening needs across Ukraine, UNHCR's Karolina Lindholm-Billing said that attacks on frontline regions are increasing. It's always civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war, she said. On the 24th of April, the Kiev residents woke up to another deadly Russian attack and these have really intensified alarmingly since the start of this year. And just in Kiev, 12 people
were killed as a result of these attacks across the city and 84 were injured and more than a thousand people have been directly affected. But civilians and infrastructure were also hit in several other regions yesterday, including in Jarque, where I myself woke up around 2 a.m. in the morning
to the loud sound of explosions. Since January, more than 3,500 people uprooted by the war have transited through Pavlograd city in central Ukraine. And in total, more than 200,000 have left frontline areas between August last year and the start of 2025.
To Sudan, where the World Food Programme, WFP, has reached people in newly liberated Khartoum who've been largely cut off from aid until now. It's a major aid breakthrough, the UN agency said on Friday. Sudan is the only country in the world where famine has been declared and the situation is desperate, said WFP's Samantha Chatterjee. What we saw was very emotional for us to be there and to engage with women and children who broke down, who were
In March, WFP reached 4 million people across Sudan, the highest monthly number since the conflict began in April 2023, and nearly four times the number of people reached one year ago.
This includes 1.6 million people in areas that are classified as either experiencing famine or at risk of famine in 27 localities. Across Sudan, nearly 25 million people still face acute hunger, which is half the population.
To Myanmar, where one month since the deadly earthquake disaster, tens of thousands of survivors still live in makeshift tents exposed to storms and disease. The UN World Health Organization, WHO, is on the ground, where Dr. Susara Fernando issued an alert about the growing risks of waterborne disease as the monsoon season approaches. They feed their babies, they eat, they drink.
in their tents. They don't have even a simple mosquito net to sleep under in the night. When it rains, they can't sleep. And when the rain stops, they still can't sleep because they fear the wind might tear their only shelter away. The WHO medic said that dengue and malaria are now a reality for survivors. Water sources are contaminated, temporary toilet facilities are overwhelmed and acute watery diarrhoea has been reported in two areas.
To help, the UN Health Agency has delivered about 170 tonnes of emergency medical supplies. This is sufficient for about 450,000 people for three months. WHO is also coordinating more than 220 emergency medical teams in earthquake-affected areas. Daniel Johnson, UN News.