The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday said that over 17,000 people, including 2,500 children, are facing freezing weather without any heating, electricity following intense fighting over the past two days around the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.

Six schools and four kindergartens have also closed in the area due to the violence, putting education on hold and children under further stress, as they lose the much-needed routine and stability of going to school, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here.

UNICEF and its partners call for safe access to carry out immediate repairs to the damaged water and electricity infrastructure to prevent further suffering, the spokesman said.

The spokesman said on Tuesday that "we are deeply concerned about the escalation of fighting in the Avdiivka-Yasynuvata-Donetsk airport area, which has reportedly led to a number of casualties in recent days."

"The fate of civilians caught in the conflict zones is particularly worrying," Dujarric said. "The increased violence is a direct violation of the Minsk Agreements."

"We call on all parties to immediately halt all hostilities, fully observe the ceasefire, allow immediate and unhindered humanitarian access for international humanitarian organisations to the affected population, facilitate full and safe access to the OSCE (Organizatio for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Special Monitoring Mission to report on the situation on the ground, and renew efforts towards the peaceful settlement of the conflict," the spokesman said.

According to the UN estimates, the conflict between government troops and pro-independence insurgents, which rages in eastern Ukraine since April 2014, 2016, left some 3.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Endit

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