Security Council

Maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine - Security Council, 9816th meeting

As Human Suffering Mounts, “What Ukraine and Its People Need Is an End to This Devastating War”, Senior Humanitarian Official Tells Security Council
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Updating the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, a senior United Nations official stressed that repeated attacks on that country’s energy infrastructure by the Russian Federation — as well as the continued inability to reach civilians living in occupied regions — could have dire consequences in the third winter of this “intolerable war”.

“Near the front line, people live life on the edge,” said Lisa Doughten, Director of the Financing and Partnerships Division of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  As the conflict grinds into another winter and daily attacks continue, civilians face constant shelling and an impossible choice — flee in perilous conditions leaving everything they have, or stay and risk injury or death.  “This is no idle concern,” she stressed, reporting that dozens of civilians have been killed in recent attacks in the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson.

Further, she said that the use of long-range weapons has steadily increased since July 2024, pointing out that those killed and injured by such weapons in November was double October’s toll.  And, as temperatures start to drop as low as -20°C in some places with more than 60 per cent of energy facilities damaged by repeated, large-scale, coordinated Russian Federation attacks, “our concern for civilians intensifies”, she said.  This, she added, is exacerbated by a simultaneous — “and equally egregious” — increase in attacks harming humanitarian operations.

Nevertheless, she reported:  “Grappling with the freezing conditions and the dangers posed by missile attacks, the humanitarian community is doing all it can to provide people with the support they need.”  In 2024, more than 630 humanitarian organizations have provided at least one form of assistance to 7.7 million people across Ukraine.  However, the international community must unequivocally commit to — and comply with — international humanitarian law, and also increase and accelerate flexible funding for the humanitarian response.

 

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