The UN Security Council will hold an open meeting on Monday (March 8) on the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine as the conflict intensifies with the country's leaders calling for the creation of humanitarian corridors. The US and Albania requested the meeting, which will hear briefings by UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths and Catherine Russell, executive director of the UN children’s agency UNICEF, diplomats said on Friday.
At the request of both France and Mexico, the council meeting will be followed by closed consultations on a draft resolution on the humanitarian plight of Ukrainians, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations on the meeting have been private.
The United Nations launched an emergency appeal on March 1 for 1.7 billion dollars (£1.3 billion) to respond to the soaring humanitarian needs of those who fled Ukraine and those who remain. It immediately received pledges of 1.5 billion dollars (£1.1 billion) and has urged that the these be turned into cash quickly. The UN estimates that 12 million people staying in Ukraine and four million fleeing to neighbouring countries in the coming months will need humanitarian aid.
