In the nearly three years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country’s people have endured continuous attacks, “psychological terror…displacement and hardship”, top UN aid coordinator Matthias Schmale said on Friday.
Briefing from Ukrainian capital Kyiv after another night of “air sirens and more loud explosions”, Mr. Schmale noted that the crisis began in 2014, with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. “So, all children that were born since - all children up to the age of 11 - have never experienced their country at peace,” he said. Tweet URL
According to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, 2024 saw a 30 per cent increase in civilian casualties compared to 2023. “The humanitarian situation is worsening, especially in frontline areas,” it said in an update, highlighting that a full 36 per cent of Ukraine’s population - 12.7 million people - needs humanitarian aid this year.
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Speaking from Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, Toby Fricker from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that more than 2,520 children have been killed or injured since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
“The real number is likely far higher and it’s getting worse”, said Mr. Fricker, chief of communication in Ukraine.
“There was a more than 50 per cent increase in child casualties in 2024 compared to 2023 and what we see is no place is safe: schools, maternity wards, children’s hospitals, all have been affected by attacks.”
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Underscoring the essential role played by women in Ukraine “beyond the battlefield”, UN Women Geneva Director Sofia Calltorp explained that “there is another story unfolding, and that is the story of all those women and girls who are bearing the brunt of this war.”
In 2024, the number of people killed and injured in Ukraine increased by 30 per cent, Ms. Calltorp noted. “Of them, 800 women lost their lives and more than 3,700 women were injured last year in Ukraine. We also know that the vast majority of Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons are women, and 6.7 million women are in need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.”
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