UN Concerned Over Blocked Humanitarian Access to Eastern Ukraine

On Friday, the UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting on the situation in eastern Ukraine prompted by the recent mounting clashes along the contact line in the east of the country and violations of the Minsk peace accords.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — Crisis-hit eastern Ukraine completely lacks humanitarian access across the line of contact, and Ukrainian authorities should allow and guarantee humanitarian support immediately, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said Friday.

"Of immediate concern is the now complete lack of humanitarian access across the contact line in either direction. This is preventing life-saving humanitarian assistance from reaching those most in need," Feltman told the UN Security Council.

Feltman urged all parties to the Ukrainian conflict to immediately guarantee the humanitarian support to the people in the region, including giving way to qualified personnel and cargo.

He also stressed that Ukrainian authorities should remove "all bureaucratic impediments to the delivery of humanitarian assistance" to the the country's eastern regions.

Meanwhile, the political work on the Ukrainian crisis settlement continues, with the next Normandy Format meeting scheduled for June 10 in Paris, Feltman said.

On Wednesday, a new round of fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine as Kiev forces launched an offensive against local independence supporters near the city of Marinka. Ukrainian officials publicly acknowledged that Kiev used heavy artillery in the fighting, which violated the ceasefire agreed upon in February in Minsk.

As a result of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Donbass residents have been on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. The region has been also suffering from an economic blockade imposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in November 2014.