The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the UN and its partners are continuing to deliver critical aid across Ukraine, despite the increasing risks to humanitarian workers. On Wednesday, a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse was damaged in a drone attack on the city of Dnipro.
According to an OCHA update on Friday, no one was injured in the Russian drone strike. However, at least 10,000 boxes of food intended for civilians near the front line were destroyed. Aid agencies report that drone strikes affecting humanitarian organizations have nearly tripled between January and October of this year compared to last year.
Humanitarian workers in Ukraine face intense challenges as they operate under constant threat of Russian shelling, restricted access, damaged infrastructure, and highly unpredictable security conditions while attempting to reach those most in need.
In October, a UN-led convoy in Kherson was attacked while trying to deliver aid to a community in need. Footage of the attack, which circulated on social media, showed that the humanitarian vehicles were targeted, which is a grave violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime.
Although humanitarian organizations are providing emergency relief, including medical and psychological aid, as well as emergency shelter, attacks continue across the country. Strikes hit Zaporizhzhia and Odesa between Thursday and Friday. Ukrainian authorities reported five deaths and more than a dozen injuries, including two children.
Hostilities in Kherson, Donetsk, Dnipro, and Kharkiv regions also caused civilian casualties, as well as damage to energy infrastructure. In Ternopil, rescue operations continued Friday following Wednesday's deadly strike. According to the latest reports from authorities, 30 civilians died, including six children, and over 100 people were wounded.
Large-scale strikes on energy infrastructure have triggered prolonged power outages across most regions, leaving millions without heat, water, or transportation as temperatures fall. Hospitals, homes, railways, schools, cultural sites, diplomatic facilities, and kindergartens have been hit.
While most casualties remain concentrated near the front lines, including in the regions of Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Donetsk, Moscow’s increased use of long-range weapons has placed many more civilians at risk.
On Friday, Jens Laerke, an OCHA spokesperson, told reporters in Geneva that there are no longer any safe places in Ukraine.
He stressed that relentless Russian missile and drone attacks continue to injure and kill civilians across the country, and that the situation is most dire in frontline communities. In Lyman, for instance, approximately 3,000 individuals have been cut off from all humanitarian assistance due to ongoing strikes.
Laerke added that children were among those most affected by this war and that many had been displaced multiple times. They no longer had a safe place to play, learn, or live.
Of the estimated 6 million people in Ukraine who have been targeted for humanitarian assistance in 2025, primarily children, women, older adults, and individuals with disabilities, more than 4.2 million have received aid from relief organizations this year despite access and funding constraints. More than 500 humanitarian agencies have participated in the relief efforts.
Laerke emphasized the need to protect civilians, civilian infrastructure, and medical and humanitarian personnel. He added that children needed to be shielded and that there was no excuse for not doing so.
In response to journalists' questions, the OCHA spokesperson said that the situation was deteriorating, citing attacks on humanitarian convoys and warehouses. He noted that the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine had recently spoken of "energy terror" against Ukraine.
Over the past two months, a record number of attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure have forced school closures and disrupted the remote learning that children have relied on for nearly four years of war, Save the Children pointed out on Friday.
According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), October saw the highest number of attacks on energy infrastructure since the war began. The independent conflict monitor recorded 177 incidents in October, up from 113 in September, making them the two worst months since February 2022.
On Thursday, Kayoko Gotoh, a representative of the UN Department of Political Affairs, briefed the Security Council on the situation in Ukraine, stating that Ukrainian civilians continue to suffer from Russia's intensifying aerial campaign.
Nearly four years into the war, attacks continue to escalate, and casualties keep rising. Figures from January to October 2025 have already surpassed last year's total, Gotoh told the Security Council, calling for intensified diplomatic efforts toward a just and lasting peace.
She noted that civilian casualties in Kyiv alone were nearly 3.8 times higher in the first ten months of 2025 than in 2024.
Edem Wosornu, the Director of OCHA’s Crisis Response Division, also briefed the Security Council. She described relentless missile and drone strikes that are killing and injuring civilians, destroying homes, and damaging critical infrastructure in Ukraine.
Wosornu also addressed the growing number of power outages amid freezing temperatures, the plight of older individuals without reliable access to water or medical care, the isolation of civilians from humanitarian assistance, and the devastating October missile strike on a children’s hospital in Kherson.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified more than 500 attacks on healthcare facilities this year alone, leaving 19 people dead and nearly 200 injured.
“This pattern of attacks risks eroding an international legal framework that has taken more than a century to build,” Wosornu stressed.
“International humanitarian law demands that all feasible precautions be taken to avoid and minimize civilian harm. Indiscriminate attacks – including those that cause disproportionate civilian death, injury or damage – are strictly prohibited. These fundamental rules must be upheld.”
She noted that displacement and humanitarian needs are growing, citing the displacement of around 122,000 people in 2025 alone, most of whom are women, children, and older individuals.
Humanitarian operations are constrained by a funding shortfall, she said, which has a "human cost”: 72,000 displaced people lack adequate shelter; survivors of conflict-related sexual violence lack specialized care; and a growing mental health crisis leaves millions without psychosocial support.
As of today, just 47 percent of the US$2.63 billion required under the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan has been received.
Nevertheless, Wosornu spotlighted the “remarkable” determination of Ukrainian communities to survive and rebuild. She observed, however, that “Resilience is not protection — it cannot substitute for safety, dignity or compliance with international law.”
Attacks on civilian infrastructure continue to devastate lives and communities throughout Ukraine, creating critical humanitarian needs. An estimated 12.7 million people in the country require assistance in 2025, most of whom are women, children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities.
Despite sporadic international discussions about ceasefire negotiations and potential peace deals, the situation in Ukraine remains extremely volatile. The daily threat of shelling and airstrikes endangers lives constantly. Ukrainians continue to be killed, wounded, and deeply traumatized by the violence.
Civilians are particularly vulnerable to relentless Russian attacks along the eastern and southern front lines. Serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, are widespread in the ongoing armed assault.
The conflict, which escalated in February 2022, has created the largest displacement crisis in Europe since World War II. More than 10.8 million people remain displaced, and new waves of displacement are occurring in the north and east due to ongoing hostilities.
As of November 2025, an estimated 7.1 million people have sought refuge in other countries, primarily Russia, Poland, and Germany. Meanwhile, 3.7 million people remain internally displaced within Ukraine.
Russia's increased attacks this year have exacerbated the already dire situation of Ukrainians still inside the country. For the fourth winter, Ukrainians are facing insecurity and compounded exhaustion from living in a war zone as their country’s energy infrastructure continues to be attacked.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, the UN has documented the deaths and injuries of more than 53,000 Ukrainian civilians, including over 3,000 children. From February 2022 to October 2025, over 14,500 civilians, including hundreds of children, were killed in Ukraine, and over 38,400 people were injured.
In October 2025, civilian casualties again remained high, with at least 148 people killed and 929 injured, similar to the figures from September and August. Most deaths and injuries — about 65 percent — occurred near the front line, with particularly high casualties reported in the Kherson, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions.
As these are UN-verified figures, the actual numbers are thought to be much higher. According to human rights monitors, many reports, particularly from certain locations and from the immediate aftermath of February 24, 2022, are still being verified due to the large volume of reports, while others could not be verified due to a lack of access.