Ukraine crisis reaches new terrifying level as civilians face daily drone and ‘glide bomb’ attacks

Interviews

Daily attacks by the Russian military in Ukraine have damaged dozens of towns and villages in the south and east of the country but also in central areas - including the city of Dnipro, which was shelled again early this Friday, UN humanitarians said.

An array of military hardware has been deployed against heavily populated areas, such as drones and a new, frightening threat: relatively inexpensive glide bombs that can fly up to 80 kilometres and cause heavy damage.

The effect has been to reduce the ability of humanitarians to reach vulnerable communities who are unable or unwilling to leave their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The UN agency says that 80 per cent of energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, has now been damaged and that 14,000 people have been forced to evacuate from frontline areas and border communities in the east in just the last week.

With more on the worrying situation, here’s IOM Eastern Area Coordinator Leila Saleiravesh , speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson just after a fresh attack on the city in Dnipro, where she and her team are based.