UN official laments humanitarian situation in Ukraine

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ursula Mueller on Tuesday lamented the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, calling on all parties to respect international human rights and humanitarian law.

Briefing the Security Council members, Mueller said over 2,700 civilians have been killed and up to 9,000 injured since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine about four years ago.

Landmine is a major cause to the casualties. "The conflict-affected area is one of the most mine-contaminated in the world. Landmines maimed or killed 238 civilians in 2017," she said.

Civilians risk shelling, sniper-fire and landmines as they make "the arduous journey" through the five official checkpoints where processing time can range from hours to days, she added.

Dangerous as it is, the journey is a must for many Ukrainian IDPs, or internally displaced persons, because they need to reach the government-controlled area to register their IDP status every 60 days to get their monthly pensions of 30 to 60 U.S. dollars, Mueller said, noting Ukraine has the highest proportion of elderly people affected by conflict in the world.

About one million crossings take place over the 457-km contact line that divides eastern Ukraine, according to the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The UN assistant chief commended the Ukrainian government for adopting a national IDP plan to address the situation of the 1.5 million registered IDPs. Enditem