STRASBOURG, September 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Members of the European Parliament said in a resolution released Thursday that the humanitarian situation in the east of Ukraine is catastrophic.

The resolution on the situation in Ukraine and EU-Russia relations was approved by the EU lawmakers at a plenary session in Strasbourg.

Worrying about the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in the east of Ukraine,” they said “the population of the conflict-torn areas, internally displaced persons and refugees urgently need humanitarian aid.” They urged the EU “to take urgent additional measures” to this end, including “send a humanitarian relief convoy.”

The European Parliament welcomed the ceasefire agreement that had been concluded in Minsk on September 5 and called “on all the conflict sides to observe it and abstain from any actions and movements that may undermine the agreement.”

According to the resolution, the EU parliamentarians consider it important “to draw the attention to recent reliable reports on human rights violations in the conflict-torn regions.” The document gives no clue what reports are meant. The European Parliament has also urged the Ukrainian government “to create the singe regularly updated register of reports on forcible abductions of people.

UN report on results of the conflict in eastern Ukraine

The latest report published by the United Nations says no less than 3,171 persons have been killed, including 27 children, and another 8,061 persons have been wounded since the beginning of the conflict in eastern Ukraine in April.

The number of internally displaced persons has grown to 263,000 and another 366,900 Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries. Russia’s Federal Migration Service says more than 814,000 citizens of Ukraine have arrived from Ukraine since the beginning of the year. 

The report states the continuing difficulties with access to the zones of conflict for the majority of humanitarian agencies.

It also says that the overall population of the areas affected by combat actions stands at around 5.1 million.