Ukraine: Protecting civilians "a matter of will," UN relief chief tells Security Council

Briefing to the Security Council on Ukraine by Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

New York, 10 September 2024

As delivered

Thank you, Mr. President,

Mr. President, Members of the Council, thank you for this opportunity to brief you on the latest humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

Regrettably, two and a half years since the escalation of this war, the situation only continues to worsen. The death toll is mounting. Human suffering continues at intolerable levels.  

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reports that since 24 February 2022, over 11,700 civilians have been killed. More than 24,600 civilians have been injured.

And across the country, 10 million people have now been forced to flee their homes.

Since 26 August, large-scale attacks and relentless missile and drone strikes have continued across Ukraine. More civilians, including children, have been killed and injured. And more essential infrastructure has been damaged. 

According to local authorities in the Donetsk region, almost half the residents of a front-line town in their area have evacuated in the last two weeks. Several hospitals in the region have also had to relocate, making health services scarce amidst growing needs for people who remain.

Mr. President, while civilians in front-line areas of Donetsk and parts of Kharkiv are among those most heavily impacted, attacks elsewhere – in Dnipro, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava and other cities – have also caused significant civilian casualties and damage to essential infrastructure.

Large-scale and systematic strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure continue to drastically reduce electricity capacity, causing millions of people countrywide to experience daily power cuts.

Outages often last many hours and limit access to water, sewage, heating, mobile networks, internet and public transportation.

They hinder the ability of hospitals and health facilities to operate. They add to the disruption of children’s education. The start of the new school year has been marred by constant attacks and damage to schools.

And they imperil vulnerable and marginalized groups, especially older people and those with limited mobility.

This toll will be amplified over the winter, as energy needs increase.

Mr. President, we should also not underestimate the long-term psychological impacts of these relentless hostilities.

Civilians across Ukraine are spending endless hours in bomb shelters as air raid sirens sound, and as they wait for the missiles to stop. People living in regions along the front line often spend days on end sheltering from the fighting. And millions of Ukrainians face death, destruction and the fear of attack on a daily basis.

Nor should we ignore the disproportionate impact of the war on women and children, who continue to face additional barriers to accessing essential services, and increased risks to their safety, including from gender-based violence.

Mr. President, we are deeply concerned by the recent expansion of fighting to new areas on both sides of the Ukraine-Russia border.

Since Ukraine’s military operation into the Kursk region of the Russian Federation on 6 August, at least 130,000 civilians have been evacuated, according to local Russian officials. Media reports indicate civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.

I must remind all parties of the obligation to take constant care to spare civilians and civilian objects, as international humanitarian law demands.

Mr. President, the escalation in military activity and the shifting front lines are making humanitarian operations extremely dangerous and exposing aid workers to serious harm.

Nevertheless, humanitarian organizations continue to assist hundreds of thousands of people in need.

In the first seven months of 2024, some 6.2 million people received humanitarian assistance in Ukraine. Humanitarians are providing support to thousands of people in front-line communities; emergency relief and relocation support to those evacuating; and improving living conditions for internally displaced people in collective sites.

And ahead of winter, our Winter Response Plan and preparedness efforts are proceeding at full speed.

Here, I want to pay tribute to the courage of all humanitarian workers in Ukraine, particularly the local volunteers, civil society organizations and other groups who risk their lives to provide this support, and who keep humanity alive amid the death and destruction.

Mr. President, we remain deeply concerned about the 1.5 million people who we have been unable to reach at any adequate scale in regions of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation – in parts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

Like all others living in front-line areas of Ukraine, they undoubtedly require urgent health care, medicine, food and clean drinking water. As winter approaches, these needs will become more acute.

We renew our call for the safe, rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief to all civilians in need, in accordance with international humanitarian law. 

Mr. President, we are grateful to the donors who, so far this year, have provided almost $1.4 billion for the humanitarian response in Ukraine.

However, three-quarters of the way through the year, the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is still less than half funded.

To sustain operations in an increasingly complex and dangerous environment, we urgently need donors to increase and accelerate flexible funding for the response.

This is even more pressing as another winter approaches.

This war has gone on far too long. It has caused immense suffering and left more than 14.6 million people, or 40 per cent of Ukraine’s population, in need of humanitarian assistance.

As it escalates, its toll will only increase. Protecting civilians, and ultimately ending this war, is a matter of will.

As Heads of State and Government leaders prepare to attend the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, opening today, I once again call on Council members – indeed all Member States – to seize every opportunity to secure the decisions that will spare civilians, and finally bring this war to an end.

Thank you.