United Nations humanitarian and human rights officials are calling on Russia to immediately cease its armed attacks in Ukraine, as the intensification of fighting in the northeast of the country in recent days is causing a surge in civilian casualties and displacement, and the destruction of critical infrastructure. They also urge an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and for the UN Security Council to seek an end to the war.
“What we are seeing on the ground is that people are being evacuated from the areas of heavy fighting or are fleeing. Now, you can imagine, for the people, for the civilians living there, this is beyond distressing,” Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told journalists in Geneva Tuesday.
“For many of them, it is really difficult to know what to do. Many of them really do not want to leave. That would be a question of leaving their homes, leaving their animals, leaving their plants, their gardens, a really personal kind of impact,” she said.
Russian forces have seized more Ukrainian territory and taken control of several small settlements since launching an attack Friday near Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv. On Tuesday, hostilities continued throughout the Kharkiv region, resulting in more civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
As the security situation deteriorates in frontline and border villages, people are fleeing to Kharkiv city and parts of the region less affected by the new wave of attacks, as well as to other areas of Ukraine. More than 14,000 people are estimated to have fled.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the evacuation of civilians continued yesterday with the assistance of aid agencies. An estimated 8,000 people were evacuated between May 10 and 14, including more than 600 children.
In its latest situation report on Wednesday, OCHA said that aid agencies are providing immediate assistance to people fleeing from border and frontline villages, including coordinating the evacuation process and mobilizing emergency relief for people affected by strikes in other parts of the region.
Meanwhile, in New York on Tuesday, the UN Security Council was briefed on the current situation.
“Several waves of attacks in the Kharkiv region over the past few days have caused the death and injury of numerous civilians, including children,” Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships for OCHA, told the Council.
“These attacks have triggered yet more displacement from border and front-line communities,” she said. “As of today, authorities report that over 7,000 civilians were evacuated from border areas of the Kharkiv region.”
“And they have had devastating consequences for civilians who remain in those areas, with many cut off from access to food, medical care, electricity and gas,” she said.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded more than 700 civilian casualties across Ukraine in April. The figure includes at least 129 civilians killed and 574 injured, “the majority amid attacks by Russian armed forces along the front lines.”
Most civilian casualties (89 percent) and damage to education and health facilities (86 percent) occurred in Ukrainian-controlled territory.
While April saw a slight increase in the number of civilians killed compared to the previous month, the report noted that the number of civilians injured "increased significantly" for the second month in a row.
“Our human rights monitoring team in Ukraine, which is continuing to analyze information from the ground, has verified that at least eight civilians have been killed and 35 injured in the Kharkiv region since last Friday,” Throssell said, describing conditions there as dire.
“Continuing attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which since March have affected millions across the country, have also meant daily power cuts in many parts of Kharkiv,” she said.
In April, the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine documented 34 attacks on energy infrastructure in government-controlled territory and 13 incidents in Russian-occupied territory.
While most of the civilian casualties and infrastructure damage occurred in Ukrainian-controlled territory, OCHA said people in the Russian-occupied regions of Donetsk and Sumy, in eastern and northern Ukraine, "also experienced attacks" on Tuesday and over the weekend.
“Local authorities and humanitarian partners on the ground said homes and civilian infrastructure were damaged during the attacks,” OCHA said.
Between February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, and April 30, 2024, OHCHR reports 32,100 casualties, with 10,946 civilians killed and 21,154 injured, including at least 1,993 casualties among children, of whom 608 were killed and 1,385 injured.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) noted that an average of two children were killed or wounded in Ukraine every day.
“These are the figures the UN has been able to verify. We know the true number is likely much higher,” said Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF special coordinator for the refugee and migrant response in Europe, in a statement Monday.
“As we see in all wars, the reckless decisions and actions of adults are costing children their lives, safety, and futures. UNICEF continues to call for an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine and for all children to be protected from harm,” she said.
“This includes ending the brutal use of explosive weapons in populated areas and attacks on civilian facilities and infrastructure which disproportionally harm children.”
In issuing this call, the UNICEF official echoed that of the OHCHR for the Russian armed forces to halt their offensive, to withdraw to internationally recognized borders, and to make every effort to avoid or “at least minimize civilian casualties when conducting their operations.”
In the meantime, OHCHR spokesperson Throssell said that the High Commissioner continued to regularly engage with leaders and with permanent missions in Geneva to achieve these goals.
“We believe that it is incredibly important to keep making these calls. They may not be heeded in the first instance but as you know, part of the work of our office is to monitor, is to document as part of an overall aim of establishing accountability for violations,” she said.
While acknowledging that, in some cases, this could take years, she stressed the importance of monitoring and documenting for future accountability “what is happening in terms of human rights violations and atrocities” committed in this brutal war.
While the war in Ukraine has resulted in the death and injury of tens of thousands of people in Ukraine, it has also displaced millions, many of whom continue to seek refuge in neighboring countries and around the world.
“It has caused immense suffering and left more than 14 million people, or 40 percent of the population, in need of humanitarian assistance. We once again call on this Council to seek an end to it,” Doughten said in her briefing to the Security Council.
In 2024, Ukraine has faced intensified attacks, resulting in increased civilian casualties and devastation in frontline areas and across the country, particularly in the northeast. Intensified attacks on civilian infrastructure are disrupting vital services such as electricity and heating for hundreds of thousands of people and hampering access to health and education.
In response to the growing needs, humanitarian agencies launched the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP), appealing for US$3.1 billion to help 8.5 million of the most vulnerable people. As of May 15, donors have provided 22 percent (US$669 million) of the US$3.1 billion needed.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Ukraine: Humanitarian Impact of Intensified Hostilities in Kharkivska Oblast - Flash Update #3 (Last Updated: 15 May 2024), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, report, released May 15, 2024
https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-humanitarian-impact-intensified-hostilities-kharkivska-oblast-flash-update-3-last-updated-15-may-2024-enuk
Full text: OCHA urges Security Council to seek an end to the war in Ukraine, Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine by Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships for OCHA, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, delivered May 14, 2024
https://www.unocha.org/news/ocha-urges-security-council-seek-end-war-ukraine
Full text: Ukraine: Concern at plight of civilians and intensified Russian attacks, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, press briefing notes, released May 14, 2024
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2024/05/ukraine-concern-plight-civilians-and-intensified-russian-attacks
Full text: Nearly 2,000 children killed or injured since the escalation of war in Ukraine, statement by UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office and Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant Response in Europe Regina De Dominicis, released May 13, 2024
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/nearly-2000-children-killed-or-injured-escalation-war-ukraine
Full text: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict — April 2024, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, report, release May 10, 2024
https://ukraine.un.org/en/download/160046/268279