Ukraine: Humanitarian crisis worsens amid winter freeze, daily attacks

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Civilians near the frontlines of Ukraine’s war with Russia are living “on the edge”, a senior UN humanitarian official told the Security Council on Monday, calling for urgent international action to increase protection and sustain humanitarian aid.

Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) highlighted the unrelenting toll on civilians.

“Daily attacks continue, inflicting death, injury and untold suffering on ordinary Ukrainians, and destruction and damage to civilian infrastructure,” she said, adding that for those near the frontlines, lives is even more difficult.

“They face constant shelling and impossible choices: flee in perilous conditions leaving everything they have – perhaps for the second or third time – or stay, and risk injury or death.”

In regions like Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Kherson, dozens of civilians have been killed in recent attacks. In November alone, 65 civilians were killed, and 372 were injured across 11 regions of Ukraine, double the casualties from the previous month.

Energy infrastructure under attack

The crisis has been exacerbated by “repeated, large-scale, coordinated attacks” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Ms. Doughten said.

These further imperilled civilians as temperatures drop to as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius.  According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), more than 60 percent of the country’s energy generation facilities have been damaged since March.

“Going into the coldest months of the year, civilians’ access to electricity, gas, heating and water has been severely affected,” Ms. Doughten added.

Humanitarians at risk

The dangerous situation has also impacted humanitarian operations, with aid workers, vehicles and storage facilities having come under attack. The number of aid workers killed has almost tripled this year – from four in 2022 and five in 2023, to 11 so far in 2024.

Despite these challenges, the humanitarian community has scaled up its efforts, Ms. Doughten said, noting that so far in 2024, over 630 humanitarian organizations have provided aid to 7.7 million people, prioritising support for the most vulnerable.

However, an estimated 1.5 million civilians in Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia remain out of reach.

“We remain unable to reach these people at any adequate scale. The failure to deliver assistance in these areas could have dire consequences, especially in winter,” she added.

Call to action

Ms. Doughten concluded with an appeal to the international community, urging immediate action in three areas: first, she called for full commitment and compliance with international humanitarian law, particularly on protection of civilians and humanitarians, and unimpeded access to those in need.

Second, she stressed the urgent requirement for more funding. While donors have contributed nearly $2 billion this year, a $1.1 billion shortfall remains.

“We need donors to increase and accelerate flexible funding to sustain life-saving operations as we head into 2025,” she said.

Finally, she underscored the need to end the suffering at its source.

“As long as this intolerable war persists, civilians will continue to suffer the severe consequences. What Ukraine and its people need is an end to this devastating war.”