Attachments
MAIN DEVELOPMENTS IN UKRAINE BETWEEN 1 JANUARY AND 30 APRIL 2025
• Between January–April 2025, humanitarian access in Ukraine continued to deteriorate amid continuing frontline shifts, direct attacks on responders, disruptions to basic services, and escalating administrative and security barriers across both frontline and occupied territories.
• While monthly territorial advances by Russia slowed compared to Q4 2024, continued frontline shifts in January—April 2025 rendered new hromadas inaccessible to responders, resulting in reduced assistance to affected populations.
• Amid deteriorating security conditions in frontline areas, reduced humanitarian access was compounded by the limited availability of government services, which put the population at increased risk of protection concerns and significantly limited access to administrative, medical, and legal support.
• The increased deployment of fibre-optic drones, the communications of which are largely unaffected by electronic warfare jamming, further increased security risks for humanitarians providing assistance on the front lines and in areas along the border with the Russian Federation.
• In January—April, Russian forces continued to attack humanitarian workers in frontline areas, resulting in casualties and damage to vehicles and premises. The highest number of incidents occurred in Donetska and Khersonska oblasts (ACAPS accessed 17/04/2025).
• Critical infrastructure across the country came under Russian shelling, leading to the disruption of basic utilities such as water, electricity, gas, and heating (ACAPS accessed 17/04/2025).
• Conscription continued to affect the operations and capacity of humanitarian responders, particularly for organisations and staff who have been unable to obtain exemptions (KII 08/04/2025; KII 09/04/2025 a; KII 09/04/2025 b; KII 17/04/2025).
• People’s access to essential services continued to be constrained in Russian-occupied territories as a result of Russian passport requirements, deteriorated infrastructure, staff shortages, and movement restrictions (UNN 13/01/2025; HRW 25/03/2025; ; Zmina 13/04/2025; KII 10/04/2025).
• New mandatory evacuation orders were issued for Chernihivska, Donetska, Kharkivska, and Sumska oblasts (Suspilne 16/04/2025, 12/02/2025, Slovo I Dilo 05/03/2025; UNN 23/01/2025; Ukrinform 11/04/2025).