A Sudanese family in Adra on the border with Chad. Top stories of the day | Thursday: Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, nuclear tests UN
The main news of the day in the UN and in the world: shelling of the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine, an agreement on humanitarian pauses in Gaza for the polio vaccination campaign, food aid in Sudan’s Darfur, the International Day against Nuclear Tests.
Evacuation in the Donetsk region
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that, according to local authorities, dozens of people were injured and civilian infrastructure was damaged as a result of shelling in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine on Wednesday. An evacuation was announced in the Donetsk region due to the escalation of fighting near Pokrovsk. Humanitarian organizations continue to provide assistance to residents of frontline settlements. They also support people fleeing their homes, escaping from the fighting in the Donetsk and Sumy regions.
Polio Vaccination
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it had reached an agreement with Israel on a series of humanitarian pauses for the duration of a mass polio vaccination campaign in Gaza. The campaign will start on Sunday, September 1. The head of the WHO representative office in the West Bank and Gaza, Rick Pieperkorn, said that each pause will last three days. They will be announced in turns in different parts of the Strip. The fighting will be suspended for eight to nine hours each day.
Aid to the people of Sudan
Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed is visiting Sudan. On Thursday, she met with Sudanese who were forced to flee their homes and with government officials. Tomorrow, Mohammed will visit the Adre border crossing on the Chad-Sudan border, which is used for humanitarian operations. Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme reported that since the Adre crossing was reopened about two weeks ago, the organization’s trucks have delivered more than 630 tons of food to Darfur. This volume should be enough for 55 thousand people.
Nuclear tests
Recent calls for the resumption of nuclear testing indicate that the lessons of the past have been forgotten – or ignored. This is stated in the message of the Secretary-General on the occasion of the International Day against Nuclear Tests. The head of the UN noted that over almost eight decades, more than 2,000 nuclear tests have been conducted around the world, which have left behind a destructive legacy, making the land uninhabitable and creating long-term problems for human health. The head of the UN called on the world community to unanimously act in favor of ending this practice.