UNITED NATIONS -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced Thursday that the world body will allocate $20 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to meet the urgent needs in Ukraine, which is in the midst of a military conflict with Russia.

"Today I am announcing that we will immediately allocate $20 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to meet urgent needs," the UN chief told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

"We and our humanitarian partners are committed to staying and delivering, to support people in Ukraine in their time of need," said the secretary-general.

He said that UN staff are working on both sides of the contact line, "always guided by the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, humanity and independence."

"We are providing lifesaving humanitarian relief to people in need, regardless of who or where they are," he said.

"The protection of civilians must be priority number one," noted the top UN official. "International humanitarian and human rights law must be upheld."