Ukrainians are left to starve
Geneva/Kyiv. According to the World Food Program (WFP), people in Ukraine are at risk of starvation.
No aid convoys have been allowed into the city of Mariupol since it was surrounded by Russian forces two weeks ago, WFP chief David Beasley said on Friday after a visit to Ukraine. “It’s one thing when people suffer the ravages of war,” Beasley said. “It’s another matter when they’re left to starve.”
WFP estimates that a third of people in the country as a whole and 60 percent of internally displaced people are concerned about not being able to find enough food for their families.
Food and water in Mariupol soon ran out
Beasley did not name Russia as a warmongering party. “We appeal to everyone to give us the access we need to reach people in cities under siege,” he said. 100,000 people are expected to remain in Mariupol, and the last supplies of food and water will soon be gone. The WFP is also concerned about the situation in cities in the east of the country.
To date, WFP has provided household funds to around 1.4 million people in Ukraine. Traumatized people, whose villages were still fighting until recently, throw boxes of pasta, rice, canned meat and oil into the ruins of their houses. This month, 2.3 million people are to be supported.
Among other things, Beasley traveled to the Kiev suburb of Bucha, where hundreds of bodies were found after the Russians left. “I’m shocked,” Beasley said. “The horror of war is so clear here and I shudder to think of what these people went through.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220415-99-931512/2