The UN humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, is outraged over a Russian attack on a civilian ship in the Black Sea Port of Pivdennyi in Odesa, which left a local port worker dead and crew members wounded.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said this on Thursday at a news conference in New York.

The attack, which happened on Wednesday, came on the heels of a series of assaults that killed and injured civilians, destroyed grain supplies and damaged the historic Fine Arts Museum in the Ukrainian port city.

Mr Dujarric said she shared her condolences with the family of the killed port pilot and hoped for the recovery of the wounded.

According to news reports, three of the injured were crew members from the Philippines.

Since the Russian withdrawal from the UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative in July, there have been more than 30 attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure, but this marked the first time civilians have been killed and injured onboard a merchant ship.

“The consequences of this brutal and relentless pattern of Russian attacks on port facilities are devastating for Ukraine’s economy and the hundreds of millions of people facing hunger worldwide,” Mr Brown stated.

According to him, she stressed that international humanitarian law strictly prohibits attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Briefing on the humanitarian situation in South Sudan, Mr Dujarric said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was sounding the alarm over the surge in returnees and refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan.

“The number of people arriving in South Sudan increased in October by at least 50 per cent compared to September. As of Wednesday, November 8, more than 366,000 men, women, and children had been recorded crossing the border from Sudan since the conflict began.

“As that conflict edges further south, it could trigger more displacement, putting additional pressure on an already over-stretched response,” he explained.

According to him, the humanitarian community continues to provide life-saving assistance where resources allow. However, some partners expect to run out of funds before the end of the year, with the Emergency Response Plan for returnees and refugees in South Sudan reported at just 14 per cent funded.

He said donors needed to support the UN and its partners to provide food and nutrition assistance, adequate sanitation and hygiene facilities, and onward transportation services. 

(NAN)