The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned today that intense fighting and hostilities continues to uproot thousands of civilians monthly in the front-line community of Kupiansk, in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, where constant bombardment has destroyed homes and other civilian infrastructure. According to local authorities and humanitarians on the ground, those who remain in the area in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection.
In a report released Friday, OCHA said constant bombardment has caused widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, leaving many people in damaged houses and in urgent need of repair materials to ensure their safety now and before the start of the next winter. The war has also had an important impact on livelihoods, including due to the heavy mine and explosive ordnance contamination, which prevents agricultural activities in an area heavily dependent on crop production.
The number of civilians living in one of the twelve towns and villages forming the community of Kupiansk has dropped to approximately 10,000 people as of May 2023, down from around 20,000 at the beginning of the year and over 55,000 before the escalation of the war in February 2022.
The United Nations and its humanitarian partners have sustained regular assistance to 23,000 people through three convoys in 2023 to Kupiansk and surrounding settlements. The community was retaken by Ukraine in September 2022.
OCHA said the situation was particularly concerning in small towns like Kivsharivka, where some 3,500 people are estimated to remain. The townās central market is destroyed, and prices in several operational shops are reportedly some 40 percent higher than in Kharkiv.
In a further development regarding the situation in Ukraine, the Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Denise Brown, condemned Thursday, new attacks on Kyiv in the morning, which killed civilians including one child. The killings coincided with the country marking Ukrainian Childrenās Day on June 1.
"I am yet again shocked and saddened by the death of a child who was killed alongside other civilians during another barrage of missiles launched at Kyiv today by Russian armed forces. My thoughts are with their families and those injured", the Humanitarian Coordinator said in a written statement.
According to the UN Office for Human Rights, more than 1,500 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine since February of last year. Six children were killed and 34 were wounded in May alone, bringing to more than 1,500 the total number of child casualties since Russiaās armed attack against Ukraine over 14 months ago.
The UN monitoring mission says at least 525 children have been killed, and at least 1,047 have been injured in 289 cities, towns, and villages across Ukraine, in both Government controlled areas and those areas occupied by Russia, since Russia started a full-scale attack on 24 February 2022.
āOn this Ukrainian Childrenās Day, I also want to express my deepest sympathy with the families of over 1,500 children killed and injured in Ukraine since Russiaās full-scale invasion started in February 2022. The UN is also gravely concerned and following closely the reports of Ukrainian children being forcibly sent to Russiaā, Brown added.
The war in Ukraine has further escalated in 2023, with hostilities ravaging communities in the east and south and taking a heavy toll on civilians living close to the front line. The war also has had a devastating impact on the mental health and well-being of children, including millions who had to flee for safety, whether internally or outside.
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine deteriorated rapidly in 2022, after the Russian Federationās invasion escalated eight years of conflict in the east into a full-scale war. The devastation and destruction have been staggering, with some 40 percent of Ukraineās population now in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. At least 17.6 million people in Ukraine require humanitarian aid this year. Among them are 3.2 million children.
The war has also forced many to flee Ukraine, resulting in a humanitarian crisis of a scale not witnessed in Europe for decades. The war in Ukraine has led to one of the two major displacement crises in the world - the other being the Syrian civil war - with more than 13.6 million people fleeing their homes. More than 8.1 million refugees have sought refuge in foreign countries. At least 5.4 million people are displaced within Ukraine.
Russiaās invasion of Ukraine has created one of the largest humanitarian disasters globally. Violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law occurring in the course of the ongoing armed attack are widespread. Millions of civilians fear for their lives. People in Ukraine continue to be killed, wounded and deeply traumatized by the violence.
Further information
Full text: Ukraine: Deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Kharkivska oblast - Flash Update #1: Kupiansk (2 Jun 2023) [EN/UK] ā Ukraine, published June 2, 2023
https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-deterioration-humanitarian-situation-kharkivska-oblast-flash-update-1-kupiansk-2-jun-2023-enuk
Full text: Statement by the Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, United Nations in Ukraine, released June 1, 2023
https://ukraine.un.org/en/234223-statement-humanitarian-coordinator-ukraine-denise-brown