United Nations: Qatar, Ukraine, Syria & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (03 March 2023)

Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
- Secretary-General
- Ukraine
- Syria
- Mali
- Somalia
- Vanuatu
- Haiti
- World Wildlife Day
- International Day For Disarmament And Non-Proliferation Awareness
- Noon Briefing Guest
- Security Council / UNMISS
SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Secretary-General is in Doha, in Qatar. Tomorrow, he will be taking part in the Summit of the Least Developed Countries Group, chaired by the President of Malawi, Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera. He will also be meeting with various leaders of Least Developed Countries. In the evening, he will attend the opening of the new UN House.
And on Sunday, he will address the opening plenary of the fifth Conference on Least Developed Countries, also known as LDC5, where he will call for the implementation of the Doha Plan of Action which was adopted during the first part of the LDC5 conference in March last year.
He will stress that we don’t have a moment to lose as Least Developed Countries are being stranded amidst a rising tide of crisis, uncertainty, climate chaos and deep global injustice. And he will call on developed countries to live up to their commitment to provide Least-Developed Countries with development and climate assistance, among other measures.
UKRAINE
In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that intensive hostilities continue to be reported near Bakhmut town, in Donetska oblast. Several thousand residents, including dozens of children, remain in the city, according to our partners on the ground and local authorities. Due to the security situation, the few partners remaining on site are focusing on the evacuation of the most vulnerable people.
At the same time, we are receiving reports about new attacks in different parts of the country where civilians were killed and injured. In Zaporizhzhia city, at least five people were killed, and ten more are missing due to an airstrike destroying a five-story residential building, burying people under the debris, according to the Government.
Humanitarian partners on the ground provided the affected people with hot meals, blankets, sleeping bags, food and hygiene kits. They have also provided counselling and helped them to find a place to stay in shelters. Partners will also support the families with cash assistance. The Humanitarian Coordinator, Denise Brown, expressed her regret that more than 20 civilians lost their lives in the Kherson region. She also voiced concern about volunteers and aid workers getting injured while trying to support people impacted by the war.
From the response side, on 3 March, a UN inter-agency convoy delivered blankets, bedding and kitchen sets, hygiene items and solar lamps to cover the basic needs of about 4,500 residents in the Stanislavska community in the Kherson region, which has been severely affected by the hostilities in late 2022. The supplies were provided by the International Organization for Migration, the UN Refugee Agency and UNICEF.
SYRIA
Today, 22 truckloads of aid from the World Food Programme and UNICEF crossed into north-west Syria. In total, 557 trucks have crossed since 9 February.
The UN has carried out 18 inter-agency cross border missions to north-west Syria since the first interagency visit to Idlib on 14 February.  Yesterday, a joint OCHA/UNICEF delegation carried out a mission focused on gender and accountability to affected people, including a field visit to a site for internally displaced persons in Kelly Mountain and to Al-Iman hospital in Sarmada, northern Idlib.
Our humanitarian colleagues also tell us that over 105,000 households have reportedly been displaced following the earthquakes. Many are staying with host communities or going back to their inhabitable homes, making it very difficult to estimate the total number of displaced.
The UN is currently supporting structural damage assessments of affected buildings to help facilitate families’ return. Longer-term shelter operations are also being identified for families that cannot return to their homes due to the scope of the damage.
The $400 million Syria earthquake appeal has so far received $173 million or 43.5 percent of the funding required.