UN humanitarians continue to reach beleaguered communities stranded on the frontline in Ukraine. An inter-agency convoy delivered three trucks of aid to a community in the Kherson region on Wednesday - the ninth this year that has managed to get through.
There are still nearly 2,000 people living in the town of Beryslav, including more than 70 children and 90 people who have only limited mobility.
"Despite constant shelling, they have not evacuated the area, which has no electricity, which has no gas and which has no water, all due to damaged infrastructure", said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
Aid workers delivered a portable power station, hygiene items, bedding, blankets, and warm clothing, he added.
Amid an uptick in missile strikes and bombardment by invading Russian forces in recent days, there were nearly 30 civilian casualties caused by hostilities in the Donetsk and Sumy regions.
Mandatory evacuations
"Homes, stores, agricultural assets, and gas and electricity infrastructure were reportedly damaged", said Mr. Dujarric. "The Ukrainian Government tells us that they have launched the mandatory evacuation of children and their caregivers from another 40 towns and villages around the Donetsk Region."
Wednesday saw a wave of Russian attacks which left a mother and her three daughters dead, among seven killed in the western city of Lviv. A baby and another girl also died following the drone and hypersonic missile strikes.
The attacks followed on from the deadliest single Russian attack of the year which left 53 dead in the central city of Poltava.
The head of the UN Children's Fund office in Lviv, Nienke Voppen, told UN News on Thursday that 66 people in the city had also been injured during Wednesday's strikes, including ten children.
