Translated with AI
On October 15, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported a drone attack on a United Nations (UN) humanitarian convoy in Ukraine's Kherson region. He wrote about this on his X social media page (formerly Twitter).
According to the WHO director, the incident occurred during the delivery of humanitarian aid to the village of Belozerka. WHO staff were accompanying a UN convoy carrying medical supplies and food aid for the civilian population in the region.
"The WHO mission team in Ukraine was attacked while traveling with a UN convoy. Our staff are safe and, despite the attack, were able to deliver medical supplies to Belozerka. Two World Food Programme trucks were damaged. We cannot repeat this too often: humanitarian workers are not targets. Attacks against them must stop," stressed Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Later, Matthias Schmale, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, reported details of the incident. According to him, on October 14, a convoy of four trucks marked with UN symbols was attacked by Russian forces. The vehicles were heading to civilians "severely affected by the war" who had not received humanitarian aid for several months.
Upon arrival at the scene, intense artillery shelling began, and while unloading humanitarian supplies, two of the four trucks were attacked by drones and caught fire.
No WHO or UN staff were harmed. However, as Schmale noted, the attack constituted a gross violation of international humanitarian law.
"The deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers, as well as humanitarian facilities and property, is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and may amount to a war crime," the UN spokesman said.
It is noted that the humanitarian mission was heading to one of the areas where fighting has intensified in recent weeks.
Earlier, in early September, the head of the Chernihiv city military administration, Dmitry Brizhinsky, reported a missile strike on a humanitarian demining mission near the village of Novoselivka. Two people were killed and three were injured.
The WHO and the UN expressed strong protest over the incident and called on the parties to the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law and guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers.
