In the northern town of Chernihiv, the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) said it had made its first relief delivery there, with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Rescuers reach Chernihiv

“We have just completed the first WFP food distribution since the start of the war in Ukraine, in the previously besieged town of Chernihiv,” said WFP chief David Beasley. Twitter.

The aid will support 12,000 people in the town, which has now returned to Ukrainian hands, after facing water and electricity shortages.

The UN agency aims to reach more than three million people inside Ukraine with food and cash distributions, as well as 300,000 refugees and asylum seekers who have left the country.

flee to safety

Following the Mariupol escape, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it led a convoy of buses and cars carrying more than 500 people to Zaporizhzhia during the day on Tuesday and Wednesday.

All those transported in the aid convoy had fled Mariupol on their own, the Red Cross said, warning that “thousands of additional civilians” were trapped inside the devastated coastal town.

They still need “safe passage to get out and (for) help to arrive”, insisted the Red Cross, noting that it was ready to provide relief “once concrete agreements and the security conditions will allow it”.

The city still forbidden

Pascal Hundt, head of the Red Cross delegation to Ukraine, said staff had been trying to reach Mariupol for five days.

They arrived within 20 kilometers of the city, but security conditions on the ground made entry impossible, Hundt said.

The town has been bombarded since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, with homes and public buildings razed to the ground.

UNESCO, the United Nations’ educational, scientific and cultural body, said Mr Kvedaravicius died in his car as he left Mariupol at the weekend. He was 45 years old.

Mr. Kvedaravicius received critical acclaim for his documentary, Mariupolis, which screened at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2016.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay denounced the murder of Mr Kvedaravicius and said there was “an urgent need to protect media workers, especially in conflict situations”.

Ms Azoulay also called for those responsible for her death to be “identified and brought to justice, in the interest of justice, freedom of expression and artistic freedom”.