UNHCR warns growing displacement, relief aid, health needs soars in s Kharkiv

Anjali Sharma

GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 22nd May. UN ON Tuesday expressed new concerns over a rise in displacement and humanitarian needs in Kharkiv region, after “relentless” Russian air and ground attacks.

UN refugee agency spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said “Relentless aerial attacks continue, prolonging and exacerbating an already dire situation”.

“More than two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, regular shelling and attacks continue to claim lives and destroy homes and critical infrastructure across the country.”

Ms. Mantoo noted that in the past week, more than 10,300 people have been evacuated from their villages in Kharkiv region’s border areas by Ukrainian authorities, with the help of volunteers and humanitarian organizations.

The majority of the evacuees are “highly vulnerable” people the elderly, people with low mobility or disabilities who were not able to flee their homes previously.

According to UN humanitarian affairs coordination office, over 16,000 people have fled the most affected localities in the Kharkiv region since 10 May, after reports of significant advances by Russian forces.

Ms. Mantoo warned that Kharkiv already hosts some 200,000 internally displaced people, conditions “could become even more difficult if the ground offensive and relentless aerial attacks continue.”

“This could force many people to leave Kharkiv for safety and survival, seeking protection elsewhere.”

She highlighted the fact that attacks on energy infrastructure are “particularly critical” in Kharkiv, where the energy supply is already “well below standard capacity” and households suffer from power shortages.

OCHA reported that the past 3 days have seen daily attacks in Kharkiv City resulted in “scores of civilian casualties including children and a pregnant woman”, cited local authorities, “as well as an ambulance hit and a paramedic injured when two strikes reportedly impacted the same location in close succession”.

WHO representative in Ukraine Dr. Jarno Habicht said that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, “on average, 200 ambulances per year are damaged or destroyed in shelling attacks”.

“That is a tremendous loss, depriving the Ukrainian people of urgent care,” he insisted.

Dr. Habicht said that WHO has recorded more than 1,700 attacks on health in the country since February 2022.

He added that some 10 million people in the country likely suffer from mental health conditions, while more than 20,000 amputations have been conducted since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion “two areas [which] need support from many humanitarian and development partners and in the long term”.

The intensification in hostilities in the Kharkiv region has driven humanitarian needs up “exponentially”,

Dr. Habicht also highlighted the need to “think medium term to get ready for the winter to come”.

He said to ensure Ukraine’s healthcare system can “continue functioning amidst prolonged adversity”, WHO has begun installing heating units “modular heating units” in hospitals, including in Chernihiv and Odesa in the coming days and weeks.

Both immediate and medium-term needs and preparing the winter response has been a challenge due to a drop in humanitarian funding for Ukraine compared to the past two years, he noted.

According to OCHA, the UN’s $3.1 billion Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for the country in 2024 remains only 23 per cent funded. UNHCR’s response in Ukraine and in neighbouring refugee-hosting countries is only 16 per cent funded, which, at the approach of the mid-year mark, is “abysmal”, Ms. Mantoo said.

 

UNHCR, and partners facilitated the transport of some 2,500 people to safety who arrived in the main city of Kharkiv, weary from more than two years of war.

Alexander Mundt, UNHCR Principal Situation Coordinator in Ukraine said these evacuees mainly elderly persons or people with disabilities are extremely vulnerable.

“It’s not just that they’re escaping fighting,” he said. “They’ve lost homes that they’ll probably never be able to rebuild. They’ve lost literally everything at age 85.”

UN Security Council was told in a recent briefing that how Kharkiv and other regions, including Donetsk and Sumy have been under relentless Russian shelling  with power plants and other civilian infrastructure increasingly being targeted.

“There’s a chance in the coming weeks, if the Russian advance can’t be halted, that they could be in artillery range of Kharkiv city, where 1.3 million people live,” Mr. Mundt warned.