UN provides support to the population of Kherson in the face of the “trauma” suffered during months of Russian occupation

After the entry of the first convoy with humanitarian aid into the liberated Ukrainian city of Kherson on Monday, the UN is preparing to bring more emergency support, but also to assist the population in the face of the “trauma” who has lived through months of Russian occupation and fighting, according to a person in charge of the organization said this Monday.

Denise Brown, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, explained that responding to the psychological damage suffered by the local inhabitants, especially children, is one of the priorities for the UN teams that are deploying in the area. .

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“The utter trauma that this population has experienced over the past eight months is very much at the center of our agenda with the World Health Organization and UNICEF,” Brown said at a video conference news conference from Ukraine.

The head of the United Nations spoke to journalists from a bunker where she was taking refuge in the midst of a Russian missile attack on various parts of Ukraine.

“These people have been going through this for eight months, so I think there’s a cumulative effect.”said about the psychological impact of the war on the residents of Kherson.

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People gather at a high place looking for a place with a better Russian roaming mobile signal in newly liberated Kherson on November 14, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by BULENT KILIC / AFP) (BULENT KILIC /)

According to information to which Brown referred, there are children in this area who have stopped speaking after months of asking them to remain silent in the midst of attacks, which set off alarm sirens almost daily.

Despite the dramatic situation, the diplomat said that the international aid convoy that entered Kherson on Monday was received with great joy by the city’s population, which is now trying to return to a certain normality.

Among the major obstacles he highlighted the lack of electricity, running water and telephone and internet connection, as well as the lack of food in stores.

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Brown explained that the aid that entered the city is “just a drop in the ocean” of everything that is needed and that he will try to take there for the next few weeks.

The UN and the Ukrainian authorities, he pointed out, have been preparing a campaign to support the population for the winter for months and he said that the situation that worries him the most in the face of the arrival of the cold is that of the elderly in rural areas or with mobility difficulties. .

A Russian banner is seen on the big board in the reconquered city of Kherson, Ukraine, on November 14, 2022. (Photo by EFE/EPA/OLEG PETRASYUK)

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited Kherson on Monday, the capital of this homonymous region in southern Ukraine, and raised the country’s flag in a ceremony in the center of the city, liberated in the last days of Russian military occupation.

Zelensky announced on November 11 that the city of Kherson was once again under Ukrainian control, after Russian troops decided to withdraw to the other side of the Dnieper River, which acts as a natural border between the north and south of the region. .

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Kherson, occupied by the Russians on March 2, was one of the Ukrainian regions, along with neighboring Zaporizhia, and eastern Donetsk and Lugansk, which were annexed by Russia, despite the fact that Moscow has never managed to gain control. total military over these territories.

The Kremlin has assured that the withdrawal of its troops to the other bank of the Dnieper River is due to a reorganization of the front and a change of strategy in the invasion that began on February 24.

Source: Elcomercio