The World Food Program (WFP) warns that food is getting harder to find in Ukraine as the war continues, forcing people to resort to extreme measures.
Ukraine, a country of 44 million people, is running out of food, and the WFP estimates that 45 percent of people in the country are worried about whether there will be enough food, Voice of America reports.
The WFP says the country's food supply chain has been disrupted. Spokesman Thomson Phiri said food systems for the tens of millions of people trapped inside Ukraine are collapsing.
"WFP estimates that one in five people in Ukraine today is already using some coping strategy to get food. It's getting desperate. Desperate times call for desperate measures. They cut back on food portions. They cut back on the number of meals they eat. Adults sacrifice meals so children can have what to put in their stomachs," he said.
UNICEF said that 4,3 million children, more than half of the country's child population, were displaced after the start of the Russian invasion.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which documents war casualties, said that of the 1.080 people known to have been killed, 78 were children.
Humanitarian agencies said the relentless Russian bombing destroyed residential areas, civilian infrastructure, more than 70 health facilities, airports and bridges.
Firi said that supermarkets are empty and warehouses are without food stocks. He pointed out that families in the affected areas have more problems finding food, especially in the city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, which was almost leveled.
"Lack of access to conflict-affected areas and a lack of humanitarian partners on the ground are the biggest obstacles to providing life-saving aid to families in Ukraine. The besieged city of Mariupol is running out of its last reserves of food and water. Since it was besieged on February 24, no humanitarian aid has been allowed into the city." , he added.
Firi said the WFP has distributed enough food supplies to help three million people in Ukraine for a month. He said that the agency has food stocks in several areas of the country in anticipation of an escalation of fighting in major cities.
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