This Tuesday, Ramesh Rajasingham, a senior United Nations official, said that more than 9,900 civilians have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year. At the same time, as the winter season approaches, Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure worry the population about the lack of basic services such as water and heating to cope with the low temperatures.
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The director of coordination of the UN humanitarian office, Ramesh Rajasingham, stated this October 31 that thousands of civilians have died in attacks on homes, schools, fields and markets since the Russian invasion of Ukraine since February 2022. According to data Verified by the United Nations Human Rights Office, 9,900 civilians have died, but the “real number is certainly higher.” The figure “equals almost 16 civilian deaths every day,” according to Rajasingham.
The official also stated that the Russian attacks are inflicting “unimaginable suffering” on Ukrainian territory, where about 40% of the population needs humanitarian assistance, that is, 18 million citizens.
Rajasingham said Ukrainian civilians are suffering “horrendous humanitarian consequences” from the Russian attacks, while enduring “unimaginable levels of suffering.”
In addition, Rajasingham assured that the damage caused by the attacks to infrastructure, civilian access to services such as electricity, heating, water and telecommunications is being seriously affected. “A particular concern as winter quickly approaches,” the official said.
As winter approaches, civilians in Ukrainian territories victimized by Russian sieges are preparing for the cold season. According to Rajasingham, the humanitarian community is helping people make home repairs so their water and heating systems are ready for the frigid temperatures.
“The goal is to ensure that all civilians have access to a safe and warm place during the coming winter,” he said.
Power outages, attacks on health centers and crisis in humanitarian assistance
Medical care is not the best for Ukrainians. Since the start of the Russian invasion, the WHO has verified more than 1,300 attacks on health facilities in Ukraine, this is more than 55% of all attacks in the world during the same period. In addition, since the beginning of September of this year, the organization also documented the death of 111 health workers and patientswhile 13 health care centers have been affected by attacks in the same period of time.
According to Rajasingham, as the fighting progresses, it is increasingly dangerous for humanitarian organizations to operate and the number of humanitarian workers killed has increased considerably so far in 2023, compared to 2022.
Despite the dangers it represents, more than 500 humanitarian organizations—mostly local—reached nine million people with humanitarian aid in the first nine months of this year. This, thanks to more than 2 billion dollars in donations following a UN call that urged the need for funds of 3.9 billion dollars for humanitarian aid in 2023. However, more than 40% of the requested funds remain without be donated.
Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador, told the Security Council that the Russian attacks reduced Ukraine’s power generation capacity to about half its pre-war capacity, according to a United Nations estimate in June of this year. Furthermore, between October 2022 and March 2023, many Ukrainian civilians spent nearly 35 days without electricity.
In parallel, Wood stated that on a single day in September this year, Moscow launched 44 missiles against Ukrainian energy facilities in six different regions. However, a Ukrainian government report documented that from October 11 to 12, Russia launched attacks against the Kherson region “about 100 times.”
Against this background, the US official stated: “We call on the international community to continue providing essential humanitarian support to Ukraine, including support for Ukraine’s efforts to restore its energy grid.”
For his part, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, stated that Ukrainian missiles – not Russian ones – are the ones that hit “civilian objects.” At the same time, he accused Kiev of making up “lies about Russia” and blaming his country for “high-profile tragedies” in Ukraine in order to gain more Western support, translated into more military assistance from its allies.
With AP
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