- Title: UN migration chief warns of difficult winter ahead for Ukraine
- Date: 13th September 2022
- Summary: KYIV, UKRAINE (SEPTEMBER 13, 2022) (REUTERS) VITORINO ARRIVING FOR MEETING WITH JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. MIGRATION AGENCY CHIEF, ANTONIO VITORINO, SAYING: "And we see a spontaneous movement of return. Return from other oblasts to the oblasts of origin, so internally displacement. And we see also returns, spontaneous returns from European countries back to Ukraine. We anticipate that, of course, the winter will have an impact on these movements because it becomes much more difficult to move during winter." JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. MIGRATION AGENCY CHIEF, ANTONIO VITORINO, SAYING: "So when we speak about cities, we are speaking about heating processes (in Ukrainian cities) being processes based on gas and on electricity. And any attempt to damage those facilities will have a terrible impact in the capacity to heat the cities. And we are doing all our efforts to assist the populations in preparing for the winter, but we need the electricity. And that depends on the state services to put back working electricity to the cities." VITORINO LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. MIGRATION AGENCY CHIEF, ANTONIO VITORINO, SAYING: "We have seen in the press several reports about Ukrainians that have been sent to Russia. But we do not have access. We do not have access to the Russian side of the border. And therefore, we cannot confirm the figures. We know just what are the figures that have been made publicly available by the Ministry of Defence of Russia." JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. MIGRATION AGENCY CHIEF, ANTONIO VITORINO, SAYING: "And I can tell you that from the many tens of thousands of phone calls that our hotline had, 62% of them were women. And precisely those, 62% always focused on what can I do to try, to prevent being prone to trafficking. So trafficking has always figured very high." U.N., UKRAINIAN AND MIGRATION AGENCY FLAGS ON TABLE VITORINO LEAVING MEETING
- Embargoed: 27th September 2022 13:04
- Keywords: counter offensive critical infrastructure east Ukraine human trafficking internally displaced people russian strikes ukrainian refugees winter in ukraine
- Location: KYIV, UKRAINE
- City: KYIV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA002494313092022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Any damage inflicted on Ukraine's power and heating systems will seriously exacerbate living conditions this winter, especially for an estimated 6.9 million internally displaced people, the United Nations' migration agency said on Tuesday (September 13).
"Any attempt to damage those facilities will have a terrible impact on the capacity to heat those cities," Antonio Vitorino, director general of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) told a group of reporters in Kyiv.
"We are making all efforts to assist the population in preparing for the winter but we need electricity, and that depends on state services to (restore) a working electricity system," said Vitorino, who met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday (September 12).
In response to a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the east and south of the country in recent days, Russia has stepped up shelling of power stations and other infrastructure, causing blackouts in the city of Kharkiv and elsewhere.
Moscow denies targeting civilians during what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine that began on February 24.
The IOM's top priority this winter in Ukraine is ensuring the access of internally displaced people to heating, warm clothes and food, Vitorino said.
As many as eight million people, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine in the past six months. Some of those people have since returned to Ukraine, which had a prewar population of around 44 million.
Asked about the plight of Ukrainians who Kyiv alleges have been forcibly deported to Russia, Vitorino said he could not comment as Moscow had not granted U.N. agencies access to them. Russia denies forcibly deporting Ukrainian refugees to its territory.
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