13 million Ukrainians need urgent humanitarian aid – UN relief chief
Nearly 13 million people in Ukraine urgently need humanitarian aid as displacement, psychological trauma and the destruction of essential services continues to take a devastating toll, the UN relief chief told the Security Council on Tuesday.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher called on the international community to step up support and do more to protect civilians under fire.
He called for end on both sides to attacks on civilians. “This brutal pattern of civilian death and destruction in populated areas must stop.”
He said parties to the conflict must protect civilians and civilian infrastructure as required under international humanitarian law.
“Indiscriminate attacks on them are strictly prohibited: there must be limits to how war is waged.”
Displacement and desperation
The war has continued to drive mass displacement, with nearly 3.7 million Ukrainians uprooted from their homes inside the country, and a further seven million now living as refugees.
Civilian casualties and infrastructure damage has also been reported in the Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions of Russia. In addition, humanitarians are unable to reach an estimated 1.5 million civilians in Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
“International humanitarian law demands that the parties facilitate the rapid, unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, wherever they are,” Mr. Fletcher emphasised.
The impact on women has been particularly severe.
There has been a staggering 36 per cent increase in gender-based violence, alongside rising maternal health risks. Alarmingly, nearly half of all births in Ukraine since 2022 have been pre-term, a sign of the immense stress and hardship endured by expecting mothers.
Despite the soaring needs, the $2.6 billion UN-led humanitarian response plan in Ukraine has received only about 17 per cent of funds needed.
Mr. Fletcher warned that without additional financial support, critical aid programmes will be scaled back, leaving millions without food, healthcare or shelter.
“If you cannot stop the attacks on civilians – in Ukraine and elsewhere – at least give us the security we need and resources to save as many survivors as we can,” he told the Security Council.
