Ukraine Crisis

Ukraine Map
Source: OCHA/ReliefWeb

The country

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The country regained independence in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR). Its capital is Kyiv. Ukraine shares land borders with Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova. The country covers an area of 603,550 square kilometers. In 2025, Ukraine has an estimated population of about 35.8 million people, making it one of the most populous countries in Europe. The Eastern European nation is neither a member of the European Union (EU) nor the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The humanitarian situation

Within weeks, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created one of the largest humanitarian disasters globally. As of February 2025, more than 42,000 civilians were recorded killed or wounded as a result of the war. Violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law occurring in the course of the ongoing armed attack are widespread. Millions of civilians fear for their lives. People in Ukraine continue to be killed, wounded and deeply traumatized by the violence. Civilian infrastructure on which they depend continues to be destroyed or damaged.

In 2025, 12.7 million people inside Ukraine are in need of humanitarian assistance due to the conflict. The war in Ukraine has led to one of the three major displacement crises in the world - the others being the war in Syria and the war in Sudan - with more than 10.6 million people fleeing their homes, as of February 2025. Some 6.9 million refugees have sought refuge in foreign countries, mainly the Russian Federation, Poland and Germany. Nearly 3.7 million people are currently displaced within Ukraine.  

Since February 2022, the UN has recorded more than 42,000 civilian casualties across Ukraine, with more than 12,650 killed and more than 29,390 injured, the majority caused by shelling, artillery and rocket attacks. As in many humanitarian crises around the world, women and children continue to be disproportionately affected by the conflict. According to the UN Office for Human Rights, more than 2,500 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine since February 2022 (as of February 2025). 

As these are UN-verified figures, the actual numbers are likely to be much higher. According to human rights monitors, many reports, particularly from certain locations - such as Mariupol and Lysychansk - and from the immediate aftermath of February 24, 2022, are still being verified due to the large number of reports, or could not be verified due to lack of access to the relevant areas.

More than three years after the start of the war in Ukraine, humanitarian needs remain high. Millions of people across the country have endured years of intense hostilities without adequate access to food, water, health care, education, protection and other essential services. Massive destruction of civilian infrastructure has left hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without homes or livelihoods.

People living on the frontlines in the east, south and north of the country - an estimated 3.3 million people - and in Russian-occupied territory are particularly vulnerable. The impact of the war is widespread and uneven, with the most vulnerable suffering the most: internally displaced persons (IDPs), children and youth, people with illnesses, people with disabilities, the elderly, and LGBTQI+ people.

As of February 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) has verified more than 2,254 attacks affecting healthcare facilities, personnel, transport, supplies and patients since the start of full-scale war in the country three years ago. In 2025, attacks on health care have not stopped and continue to occur almost daily. 

This year, an estimated 9.2 million people in Ukraine will need some form of health assistance from aid agencies. Three years of relentless conflict have left Ukrainians traumatized and facing an uncertain future. The war has had a devastating impact on the mental health and well-being of children, including the millions who had to flee the country for safety, whether internally or outside. 

Humanitarians warn that the "hidden crisis" - the mental health crisis - will reverberate for generations.  According to the UN, some 63 percent of households have reported mental health problems, while an estimated 1.5 million children are at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),  and are in urgent need of support to cope with stress, anxiety, and other mental health challenges associated with the hostilities.

According to UN-verified data, some 780 health facilities and more than 1,600 schools have been damaged or destroyed in the course of the war, interrupting education for millions of children.

As the war in Ukraine entered its fourth year, an estimated five million Ukrainians face food insecurity, with the greatest needs concentrated in areas close to the front lines. Winter makes everything more dangerous, with attacks on energy infrastructure threatening to leave hospitals and homes without power and heat during the coldest months of the year.

Humanitarian access is difficult in conflict zones, particularly near the eastern and southern fronts and in areas controlled or occupied by Russian forces. The United Nations and aid agencies lack humanitarian access to parts of the Russian-occupied Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia regions, where at least 1.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, including access to health care and medicines, food, livelihoods, and safe drinking water.

In 2024, humanitarian agencies provided at least one form of assistance to 8.5 million people, with over 60 percent of those reached being women and girls. More than 600 humanitarian organizations, including more than 400 national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), provided assistance last year.  Due to funding constraints, relief agencies were unable to fully meet critical needs. 

Ukrainian authorities in general allow unhindered access for relief organizations. Missile attacks and other airstrikes on large urban centers impact humanitarian operations across the country, particularly hampering the movement of aid workers and delivery of emergency supplies in eastern Ukraine, where people are in desperate need of assistance.

The return of winter added new dimensions to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, as damage to energy infrastructure and homes put millions of people at risk of deadly temperatures as low as -20°C. Attacks on energy infrastructure have continued across the country, leaving millions of people without electricity, water supplies and heating systems. 

Last year, Ukraine suffered some of the worst attacks since the start of the war. Large-scale coordinated attacks on critical infrastructure destroyed or damaged dozens of energy facilities across the country. These attacks have disrupted access to electricity for millions of Ukrainians in major cities and rural areas, as well as access to water supplies in some locations, causing further suffering and disruption to the Ukrainian civilian population.

Deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, such as power plants and electricity supplies, and causing overwhelming harm to civilians is a major violation of international humanitarian law, and a war crime.

More than one-third of the people in Ukraine - 12.7 million people - are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. In 2025, the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) aims to reach one-sixth of people in need, 6 million of the most vulnerable. The United Nations is appealing for an overall US$3.83 billion to fund the ongoing humanitarian response inside the country and for the refugee crisis.

The lion's share of the twin humanitarian and refugee response plans for 2025 - $2.63 billion - will be used to support those inside Ukraine in need of humanitarian assistance. Humanitarian agencies in the country plan to help millions of people with food, health care, shelter, cash assistance, emergency education, protection and other essential services. Special attention will be given to the most vulnerable groups, including children, the elderly and people with disabilities, many of whom face isolation and barriers to accessing assistance.

A smaller amount - $690 million - will provide assistance and protection over the next year to more than 2 million Ukrainians who have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in 11 Eastern European host countries bordering Ukraine.

In 2024, some 14.6 million people in the country were in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. 56 percent of whom were women and girls. At least 17.6 million people in Ukraine required humanitarian assistance in 2023. Among them were 5.5 million children. Humanitarian aid agencies provided life-critical aid and protection services to 11 million people across the country in 2023. 

The 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) requested US$3.1 billion and targeted 8.5 million people within the war-torn country. As of December 2024, the HNRP was only 62 percent funded. UNHCR, which coordinated the Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP), was seeking $1.1 billion last year, targeting 2.3 million refugees and host communities. As of December, the RRP was only 37 percent covered by funding.

In 2023, OCHA and UNHCR had jointly appealed for US$5.6 billion (€5.24 billion) to ease the plight of millions of people affected by the war against Ukraine. The Humanitarian Response Plan for Ukraine called for $3.9 billion to reach 11.1 million people with food, health care, cash and other life-saving assistance. The Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for refugees from Ukraine appealed for $1.7 billion.

Due to the impact of the war in Ukraine, which is driving up the prices of food, fuel and fertilizer, other humanitarian crises around the world are deteriorating. The conflict is exacerbating the already dramatic food situation in many countries, and millions of people worldwide are at risk of starvation.

Ukaine LocationThe security situation

Armed conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014, following Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea, dramatically affecting the lives of millions of people.  On February 24, 2022, Russia escalated its conflict with Ukraine by invading the country on several fronts. The 2022 invasion has become the largest conventional military attack on a sovereign state in Europe and created the continent’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.

The invasion has received near universal international condemnation, and many countries have imposed sanctions on Russia and also supplied military aid to Ukraine. In contrast, China and India - the two most populous countries in the world - did not condemn the war and made virtually no effort to end the conflict,  even though both countries are the only ones capable of contributing much to it.

The security situation in Ukraine deteriorated rapidly following the launch of the Russian military offensive, with forces crossing into the country from Belarus in the north, Russia in the east and Crimea in the south. The armed violence escalated in at least eight oblasts (administrative regions), including Kyiv Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast, and Chernihiv Oblast, as well as in the eastern oblasts Donetsk and Luhansk which were already affected by the 2014 conflict.

After Russian withdrawal of troops from the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kharkiv Oblasts, the security situation improved there, at least temporarily. Subsequently, Russia’s self-declared main effort has been on taking control of the Donbas region, though missile attacks and other airstrikes on large urban centers in the whole of Ukraine continue.

Since the summer of 2022, however, most of the fighting has been confined to the east, north and south of the country. The war in Ukraine shows no signs of abating and drives high humanitarian needs across the country, especially in the Donbas region and the southern oblasts of Mykolaiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. While active fighting continues near the front lines, civilians bear the brunt of constant attacks. 

In a further escalation of the conflict, Russia declared on September 30, 2022 the annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions into the territory of the Russian Federation. On October 10, 2022, the Russian president announced targeted attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. As the Russian Federation rhetorically threatens NATO member states and the use of nuclear weapons, the Ukraine crisis risks escalating into a Third World War with unforeseeable consequences for billions of people globally.

In its first comprehensive report on the situation in Ukraine since Russia's invasion on February 24, 2022, issued in March 2023,  the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that the Russian authorities have committed numerous violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, in addition to a wide range of war crimes. 

The war crimes include attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, willful killings, torture and inhuman treatment, unlawful confinement, rape and unlawful transfers and deportations of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation. Some of the serious violations of the law may amount to crimes against humanity. 

The Commission said it was concerned about the continued use of explosive weapons in civilian areas. It noted that the multiplicity of such attacks confirms a pattern of disregard by Russian forces for possible harm to civilians.

In March 2024, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine presented an update to the UN Human Rights Council. The UN investigators accused the Russian authorities of violating basic human rights principles and causing untold suffering to Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians by subjecting them to appalling treatment.

The report highlights an escalation in civilian suffering two years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, and attributes the violations to a disregard for basic humanitarian principles and obligations to uphold human rights.

In September 2024, the Commission of Inquiry presented its latest report on the situation in Ukraine to the Human Rights Council, in which investigators accused Russia of using torture and sexual violence with impunity against Ukrainian citizens and prisoners of war in occupied Ukrainian territory and in the Russian Federation.

Human rights groups have also documented widespread violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022, including acts that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

Since March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued several arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior Russian officials. In June 2023, UN Secretary-General António Guterres added Russia to a blacklist of perpetrators of grave violations against children, citing Moscow's actions in Ukraine, including the killing and maiming of children and attacks on schools.

Throughout 2023, the war continued to wreak havoc in Ukraine. The killing and injury of thousands of civilians, including children, the targeting of civilian infrastructure, the disruption of livelihoods and vital services as well as prolonged displacement have triggered a massive humanitarian and protection crisis. 

In 2024, Ukraine experienced a sharp increase in airstrikes, artillery attacks, and ground fighting along frontline communities, causing widespread devastation and civilian losses. There has been a 30 percent increase in civilian casualties compared to 2023, and the humanitarian situation has worsened, especially in frontline areas.

As hostilities ravage communities in the east and south, the war in Ukraine is taking a heavy toll on civilians living near the front lines. Fierce ongoing hostilities in frontline and border communities, particularly in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Sumy regions, are causing even greater displacement of civilians.

Russia's continued assault has also compromised Ukraine's economy and devastated the country's energy sector. Many Ukrainian businesses have closed or been destroyed. Since 2022, 3.5 million jobs have been lost in Ukraine. Hundreds of attacks on energy infrastructure ´have affected energy supplies across the country, causing prolonged power outages for millions of people.

Donations

Your donation for the Ukraine emergency can help United Nations agencies, international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their local partners to rapidly provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other aid to the people who need it most.

Many people are already donating to the emergency relief effort in Ukraine. If you would like to support humanitarian crises worldwide with a contribution, you can donate directly to the United Nations Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF).

To find other organizations to which you can donate, visit: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.

Further Information

Last updated: 01/03/2025

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