OCHA warns of the “serious humanitarian crisis” in Marinka, Vuhledar and Kurajove, in the Donetsk province

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3 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned this Wednesday that thousands of civilians are suffering a “serious humanitarian crisis” due to the “intense fighting” in Marinka, Vuhledar and Kurajove, in the Donetsk province. .

In Marinka, located west of the city of Donetsk, about 5,000 civilians remain, including more than 400 children, out of a pre-war population estimated at about 40,000 people. Their villages suffer frequent shelling and access to electricity, gas or running water is limited.

The situation is also critical in the city of Vuhledar, where 1,100 civilians remain -before the war there were 26,000 residents-, and the town is experiencing the same problems of lack of supply and basic services, OCHA has alerted.

Despite the fact that in Kurajove, ten kilometers west of Marinka, the situation is “slightly” better, the bombardments have left homes, markets, hospitals or schools destroyed, and in total there are about 23,000 people living in the area, including 1,300 minors. According to estimates there are almost 6,000 internally displaced persons.

“Despite the immense challenges posed by the security situation, in 2023, the UN and its partners sent two humanitarian convoys with 13 trucks of humanitarian aid to support some 15,000 people in need in these areas,” it said in a statement.

In this way, in total, almost 200,000 civilians have received humanitarian assistance in the Donetsk province in the first quarter of 2023, the majority living under Ukrainian control, out of a total of 1.5 million people in need.