HIGHLIGHTS
- Nearly four months since the start of the war, the humanitarian situation across Ukraine—particularly in eastern Donbas—is extremely alarming and continues to deteriorate rapidly.
- Active hostilities continued to escalate, especially in Luhanska and Donetska oblasts in eastern Ukraine, taking an enormous toll on civilians, including aid workers.
- The situation is particularly worrying in and around Sievierodonetsk, eastern Luhanska region, with diminishing access to clean water, food, sanitation and electricity.
- Across the country, residential areas and civilian infrastructure continue to be impacted, resulting in more civilians being killed and injured.
- Despite enormous access challenges, the UN and humanitarian partners have reached over 8.8 million people across Ukraine since the war started.
ANALYSIS (16 Jun 2022)
Situation Overview
General security and humanitarian situation
Nearly four months since the start of the war in Ukraine, the humanitarian situation across the country—particularly in the eastern Donbas region—is extremely alarming and continues to deteriorate rapidly. The lack of humanitarian access due to ongoing conflict has prevented aid workers from providing life-saving assistance to people affected in several parts of Ukraine. Over the last week, active hostilities continued to escalate, especially in Luhanska and Donetska oblasts in eastern Ukraine, taking an enormous toll on civilians, including aid workers. In both Government- and non-Government-controlled areas of the two oblasts, there have been reports of dozens of civilians killed, hundreds injured, while many more are caught up in places without adequate access to vital services and supplies, including water, food, healthcare or electricity.
The UN has received reliable reports of widespread shelling of residential areas and critical infrastructure—including several bridges—in the cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, and surrounding villages across Government-controlled areas (GCA) of Luhanska oblast, severely disrupting essential services and access to the region. Although insecurity has made it impossible to determine or verify exact numbers, humanitarian partners who have been in Sievierodonetsk until recently informed that thousands of people are still in the city, including hundreds who are taking shelter in the bunkers of the Azot plant. Civilians in the city are struggling to have access to piped water, sanitation, health services or electricity. They are experiencing constant clashes and bombardments, with no guarantees to safely evacuate the area. In addition, another 30,000 people reportedly remain in Lysychansk (15,000) and neighbouring villages (15,000)—estimates from the local authorities—enduring intense hostilities. The disruption of essential services is particularly affecting health care, according to information gathered by UN agencies and NGOs. Reportedly, 19 health facilities have been hit in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, causing the total interruption of medical services in the former and leaving the latter with only one functional medical facility, when people need it the most. To date, the parties to the conflict have not reached an agreement to either facilitate safe evacuations of civilians or enable access to humanitarians to provide urgent assistance in the city.
The situation is also dire in non-Government-controlled areas (NGCA) of Donetsk oblast, where daily shelling and bombardments are further impacting civilian areas and leading to civilian casualties, affecting areas dangerously close to UN facilities and to the homes of humanitarian staff in Donetsk city. The week-long shelling in Donetsk city intensified in recent days, and on 13 June a market and apartment building were struck in the city centre, not far from the UN compound. On the same day, at least five health facilities were hit by shelling, including a maternity ward. Humanitarians on the ground informed that no one was killed or injured, but some pregnant women had to be transferred to other hospitals.Overall, over the last week, dozens of people were reportedly killed or injured, hundreds of critical infrastructure, including homes, schools, hospitals, markets, were reportedly hit across the oblast. This is making life nearly unbearable for people who are also facing severe water shortages and, sometimes, unable to leave their homes for days due to insecurity. Insecurity prevented the UN from verifying the exact figures.
Elsewhere, sustained shelling was reported in the eastern Kharkivska oblast and fighting and hostilities continued in the south of the country throughout the week. This is along with daily reports of airstrikes right across the country, including in Zaporizka oblast in the south-east, Dnipropetrovska in the centre and Sumska in the north, as well as Lvivska and Ternopilska in the west.
Destruction of civilian infrastructure
Over 3.5 million Ukrainians reportedly had their houses destroyed or damaged since 24 February, according to estimations shared by the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine. Some 116,000 residential buildings, which have been home for about 3.5 million Ukrainians, have been damaged across the country in nearly three months of war, according to the Government. The figure includes 12,300 multi-story apartment buildings and over 104,000 private houses.
Human rights violations, including civilian casualties
Allegations of human rights violations continued across Ukraine and the total number of civilians killed and injured since 24 February is now approaching 10,000 people. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights had verified, as of 15 June, more than 9,983 civilian causalities in the country, including 4,452 killed and 5,531 injured, although the actual number is likely considerably higher. Donetska and Luhanska oblasts are bearing the brunt with the highest number of civilian casualties. New allegations of violations against civilians have been shared by Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a new report published on 10 June. The rights groups informed that at least four out of eight attacks reported in early March in Chernihiv, northern Chernihivska oblast—which killed and injured numerous civilians— “were in clear violation of the laws of war.”HRW says they included the bombing of an apartment complex that killed 47 civilians, an attack that killed at least 17 people in a bread line outside a supermarket, and two separate attacks, including one that damaged two hospitals with cluster munitions, which are prohibited under multiple international conventions.
Humanitarian access and safe passage
Ongoing fighting and denial from authorities have continued to severely restrict humanitarian access to people in need across Ukraine. While people in Donetska and Luhanska oblasts have life-threatening needs, insecurity and restricted access have largely prevented the UN and NGOs from providing regular assistance in both regions. The situation has been similar in NGCA of southern Ukraine, where freedom of movement and humanitarian access have been severely limited.
The UN continues to engage with the parties to negotiate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief to people who desperately need it.
Safe passage is required for people who decide to evacuate from areas experiencing active fighting. Over the last week, there continued to be efforts to evacuate civilians from some of the areas currently most impacted by the hostilities. Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force reported on 9 June, for example, that more than 600 people had been evacuated in eastern Ukraine in the previous 24 hours. And while the Luhanska oblast authorities reported on 14 June that more than 50 people had been evacuated from communities, including Lysychansk, they said the fighting made evacuations from Sievierodonetsk impossible in recent days. Separately, the Russian Federation reported that, by 14 June, over 1.84 million people, including nearly 295,000 children, had crossed into the Russian Federation from the territory of Ukraine after 24 February. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that, as of 9 June, just over 1.13 million people had crossed into the Russian Federation.
Disclaimer
- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
- To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.