“Today, an inter-agency convoy of four humanitarian trucks, clearly marked as belonging to the UN, carrying aid, was attacked by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation while delivering aid to the town of Bilozerka in the Kherson region,” he said in a statement.
“Intensive artillery fire”
Aid workers from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) were on a mission to a community that had not received assistance for months.
“When the rescuers were at the scene, intense artillery fire began and later during the unloading.“Two clearly identified World Food Program (WFP) trucks were attacked by first-person view drones,” he said.
“Fortunately, the aid workers were not injured, but two trucks were damaged and set on fire.”
It is not a goal
The convoy was carrying hygiene kits, medicines and shelter materials, Andrea de Domenico, a senior OCHA official in Ukraine, said in a video posted on social media.
It showed one of the damaged WFP trucks on the side of a road, with flames and black smoke rising from above.
“It is very important (to remind) all parties that it is necessary to facilitate humanitarian assistance and protect humanitarian workers,” he said.
Mr. Schmale noted that “Deliberately targeting humanitarian workers and humanitarian assets is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime..”
He added that “the Kherson region has also seen an increase in drone attacks, which harm civilians,” something that must stop.
“All measures must be taken to protect civilians and humanitarian workers. International humanitarian law must be respected,” he said.
UN human rights monitors recently reported that at least 214 civilians were killed and nearly 1,000 injured in Ukraine during September.
Almost 70 percent of the casualties occurred near the front line, with notably high numbers in the Donetsk and Kherson regions.