UN chief announces emergency funds for humanitarian aid in Ukraine

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday announced the release of 40 million US dollars from the world body's Central Emergency Response Fund to ramp up vital humanitarian assistance in Ukraine.

This funding will help get critical supplies of food, water, medicines, and other lifesaving aid into Ukraine and provide cash assistance to the needy, he said at a press encounter.

Guterres underscored the crucial importance of respecting international humanitarian law, noting that at least 1.9 million people are displaced inside Ukraine and growing numbers are escaping across borders.

The United Nations and humanitarian partners are working to ensure safe passage from besieged areas and to provide aid where security permits. More than 600,000 people have received some form of aid, he said.

While the humanitarian situation in Ukraine is dire, there is another dimension of this conflict that gets obscured: its impact on the global economy, especially the developing world.

Russia and Ukraine represent more than half of the world's supply of sunflower oil and about 30 percent of the world's wheat. Ukraine alone provides more than half of the World Food Programme's wheat supply, he said.

Food, fuel and fertilizer prices are skyrocketing. Supply chains are being disrupted. And the costs and delays of transportation of imported goods, when available, are at record levels. All of this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe, he said.

Guterres noted that 45 African and least developed countries import at least one-third of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia, 18 of those countries import at least 50 percent, he noted.

The Food and Agriculture Organization's global food prices index is at its highest level ever.

Against the backdrop of these immense inter-connected challenges, Guterres announced the establishment of a Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance in the UN Secretariat.

In the coming days, the United Nations will be consulting with member states to carry forward the global emergency response that will be required for these looming crises, he said.