UN in Ukraine

DW: How do you assess the decision of separatists to drive you out of the Luhansk region? Are you outraged?

Neal Walker: No, we're just trying to fix it. Outrage isn't necessarily a useful tool to get humanitarian assistance to those in need. So we continue to negotiate, we continue to talk. The current block on UN and other NGOs is actually in Luhansk, it's not in Donetsk.

We have had a blockade on the part of the separatists since late July. Both non-government-controlled areas have essentially not allowed the passage of humanitarian assistance with the exception of one convoy of 13 trucks, including primarily shelter supplies, that was allowed to pass through to the town of Horlivka, which was badly damaged in some earlier shelling.

So we are deeply concerned by the fact that we are unable to deliver humanitarian assistance, and we're deeply concerned by the fact that we've been asked to leave from Luhansk. But we continue to talk with them, with the hope and the expectation that we will come to an agreement on what needs to be done to allow humanitarian actors - including not only the United Nations, but other NGO partners - to deliver critically needed humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people in non-government-controlled areas.

We estimate that there are approximately 4 million people. This would include 2 million people deep inside of non-government-controlled areas in need. Another million along the contact line, but inside non-government-controlled areas, and another million just on the government-held side where in fact we can deliver.

So these are four million people who critically need food, shelter, as well as medicines, and it's going to get increasingly critical as the winter comes up.

The separatist commanders have been accusing you of not submitting mandatory papers in order to get accreditation to work there. How founded are those accusations towards the UN?

The United Nations does not recognize any country. Member states of the United Nations recognize countries. The United Nations registers itself wherever it works, and we put forward our papers, we put forward the information that we need to provide, that we reasonably need to provide under any circumstances, and especially in circumstances where there's a conflict or where there's danger to humanitarian workers.

So we have done that. The only response we got was that our request was denied. We do not have further information. We have continued to speak with them. We have some indications that we may be able to come to an agreement in Luhansk.

By the way, our papers were not accepted in Luhansk, but we were not told anything in Donetsk. We don't have any answer yet. So we just basically keep emphasizing that we are speaking about critical needs of people, that we have a pipeline to deliver humanitarian assistance, and that if that pipeline is broken because for too long we're unable to deliver the supplies that we have, we'll move elsewhere.

And if the supply line is broken, it will take a long time to put it back in operation, because the pump needs to be primed, the logistics need to be set up. We're ready right now with as much as 16,000 metric tons to move into non-government controlled areas, with humanitarian assistance in that amount, but if at the end of the day it cannot be delivered, then it will really affect our ability over the next month to deliver, because that assistance will go elsewhere.

The UN has been warning for a long time about the critical humanitarian situation in Donbas. How dependent is the local population on the humanitarian aid the UN is delivering, and what could be the possible repercussions if the UN is not allowed to work there freely?

That's a good question. I'm not actually sure how you would best measure the level of dependence. What I can tell you is that there's a critical shortage of supplies of every sort.

We have anecdotal evidence of operations without anesthesia, we have clear indications that vaccines aren't available, regular medicines aren't available, pharmacies are either empty or very low on supplies. Food prices are extremely high, putting them out of reach of many citizens who simply don't have access to the cash they need to buy food.

All along the contact line, there's been massive destruction of homes, of roads, of public infrastructure, and this means that we will face, as the winter comes closer, critical life-threatening shortages in the areas of medicine, wash, food, and shelter.

Is there any "Plan B," or do you still hope that the situation might somehow be peacefully resolved in the upcoming hours or maybe days?

I remain optimistic. The upcoming General Assembly offers an opportunity for the Secretary General of the United Nations, as well as the emergency relief co-ordinator who is Undersecretary-General Stephen O'Brien, as well as Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.

All three top UN officials will be speaking to all member states with any leverage in the region, to essentially make all efforts to somehow allow this humanitarian assistance to go through.

We need to work on two fronts. We need to work on creating the legislative and bureaucratic framework for humanitarian aid to operate, but more importantly we just need to get clearance to allow our convoys to get through, and the delivery to initiate.

Do you see the current situation as an unfortunate coincidence or a precise plan? The ban on the UN in these territories coincides with the opening of the General Assembly of the UN in New York.

I'm not a cynic in that respect. I would turn in around. I would suggest that the General Assembly allows the leaders of the countries, the "Normandy Four" in particular - Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine - as well as other interested governments, to actually talk over the reality of the humanitarian crisis, the evolving humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, and to somehow come to a reasonable conclusion that there is no rational reason why these humanitarian organizations would be prevented from doing the work that they do so well anywhere in the world.

Neal Walker is UN Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme in Ukraine.