The director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), António Vitorino, discussed yesterday, in a meeting with the Ukrainian President in Kiev, the reinforcement of humanitarian operations in the country, where the war has already caused the flight of millions of people.
The meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky was announced by the head of the organization of the United Nations system in a message published today on the social network Twitter.
“We had a very good discussion about the need to maintain humanitarian operations and life-saving aid to uprooted and war-affected people and the guarantee that we will increase our efforts,” the former Portuguese minister said in the message.
The director-general of the IOM also stressed that the commitment to “work with communities and the Government to help Ukraine to rebuild and create favorable conditions for the return of displaced people is “unshakable”.
On Sunday, the President of Ukraine marked the 200th day of the invasion of Russia, condemned by most of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Kiev and imposing sanctions on Moscow.
The military offensive caused, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the flight of almost 15 million people (one third of the national population).
Although some have already returned to the country, the UN counts 6.8 million refugees, most of whom are women, children and the elderly, and another eight million internally displaced people in Ukraine.
According to the United Nations, this is already the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
