By KYIV. Sept 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – In Ukraine today, 18 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, and the humanitarian situation can be expected to worsen due to ongoing Russian attacks and the approach of winter, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Ukraine Saviano Abreu has said.
“The full-scale invasion led to a grave humanitarian crisis here. There was a humanitarian situation in the country, but it was not as catastrophic as it is now. We’re talking about 18 million people that need humanitarian assistance. It’s almost half of the people that are in Ukraine now,” Abreu said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, in 2022 the UN has sharply increased the volume of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine. In particular, this is about water, food, assistance with repairs, preparing the displacement centers where people are fleeing to, health services, education and cash assistance as well.
The spokesperson said last year they provided assistance to 16 million people in Ukraine. “That is a remarkable number, taking into consideration that we had a really small operation in the country before,” he added.
OCHA also reported that it had already supported almost 8 million people in 2023.
Answering the question whether the UN expects the humanitarian situation in Ukraine to worsen, Abreu said deterioration is expected, “if the pattern that we observed in the first six months of the year will continue.”
“Unfortunately, what we could see in the first six months of the year is that the situation is getting worse. Especially in the frontline the situation is getting worse and worse. We do see an increased number of Russian attacks impacting civilians, destroying, once again, vital infrastructure. If the war continues, and it appears to be the case, the needs of the population will either continue, because they cannot recover and go back to the situation that they were before, or it increases,” he said.
The spokesperson also pointed out that winter is coming soon, and this creates new risks and will lead to increased needs of people.
“We are expecting to increase humanitarian assistance and provide it to up to 11 million by the end of the year. Our assistance is complementary to what the government is doing, to the impressive work that the volunteers are doing, so, out of the 18 million that I mentioned that need assistance, our objective is to assist 11 million,” Abreu said.
According to him, OCHA plans to provide “winter” assistance to about 1.3 million people from October to March. In particular, support may consist of paying rent for housing for internally displaced persons or paying for utilities.
Abreu said they intend to provide such assistance to people in areas not located near the frontline. As for citizens living near the frontline, their support will be mainly in emergency housing repairs.
“We will do repairs that are going to keep people safe and warm during the winter. Also, many communities near the frontline have difficulties with access to supplies and markets are disrupted. So we go with assistance, with items to this area of the country. During the winter, this assistance would include winter clothes, blankets, heating appliances,” the UN said.
In addition, as Abreu said, another part of their work is supporting city and regional communities to ensure heat, electricity and water supply in winter. They also work to prevent livestock from dying in the winter.
According to the spokesperson, every week they organize two or three humanitarian convoys to frontline areas, including Donbas.
“We go very frequently to areas close to the frontline in the Donbas region. We go usually all together with many different UN agencies, NGOs as well, they join our convoys, organized by our office,” Abreu said.
