Ukraine

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today that international food commodity prices declined moderately in October. However, persistent conflicts are aggravating food insecurity, and moderating food prices are being countered by weak currencies in many low-income countries.

Detailing the death and destruction in the nearly two-year war in Ukraine, a senior UN official urged all parties to spare all civilians and civilian objects and facilitate the swift and unhindered provision of humanitarian relief during his briefing to the Security Council today, emphasizing that what Ukrainians need, above all, is an end to the devastating war.

In South Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that increasing violence and threats against aid workers and aid assets continues to hamper its efforts to reach some 6.8 million men, women and children who need assistance.

The Security Council discussed the transfer of arms supplies to Ukraine today, with some members voicing concern over potential unwarranted diversion of weaponry and calling for effective measures to prevent this, while speakers also said that the meeting’s call was a distraction from the Russian Federation’s own procurement of weapons from other countries.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that from Saturday through Tuesday 62 trucks travelled through the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza, carrying water, food and medical supplies. Most of this aid has already reached hospitals, ambulances and internally displaced people.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Chad, Violette Kakyomya, today warned that the country, now host to nearly 490,000 refugees from neighbouring Sudan and suffering from record levels of rain last year, is facing multiple humanitarian crises. She called for urgent support for 7 million of the country’s 18 million people.

The issue of arms supplies to Ukraine was taken up again at the Security Council, putting on display divisions among briefers and Council members, with some contending that the unchecked flow of weapons dragged out the conflict, and many others defending Kyiv’s legitimate right to defend itself against the Russian Federation’s ongoing war of aggression.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reported that 220,000 internally displaced people are sheltering in 88 UNRWA schools across the Gaza Strip, also noting that numerous personnel, teachers and students have been killed. Agency staff are working around the clock, caring for the people in the shelters.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has begun rolling out food distributions to nearly 900,000 refugees in Ethiopia following a full revamp of the safeguards and controls at its refugee operations, with refugee camps across five regions receiving food parcels for the first time since WFP paused food distributions in June.

Member States must demonstrate in their actions, not just in words, their commitment to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, particularly the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all States, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today as she detailed last week’s attacks on the Ukrainian village of Hroza and the city centre of Kharkiv.