Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths Statement at the Ukraine HRP launch

Excellencies,

Thank you for joining us today at an unwelcome milestone for the people of Ukraine.

When I stood in front of you last year to launch the 2022 Ukraine Flash Appeal, mere days had passed since the start of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

A few weeks afterwards, I visited Bucha and Irpin. What I saw there was simply horrifying.

Since then, the horrors have only continued and, indeed, intensified.

Almost a year on, the war continues to cause death, destruction and displacement daily, and on a staggering scale. Nearly 18 million people – which is almost 40 per cent of the population within Ukraine – now need humanitarian assistance and protection.

According to the UN Human Rights office, more than 7,000 civilians have been killed this last year and nearly 12,000 have been injured, with hundreds of children – appallingly - among them.

The true number of casualties is likely much higher.

Relentless attacks against energy systems, hospitals, homes and businesses have hindered children’s access to school; rendered hospitals inoperable; reduced access to livelihoods and essential goods; and deprived people of heat and clean water during the coldest months of the year.

All of this I witnessed during my two visits to Ukraine.

But I also witnessed first-hand the resilience of Ukrainian people in the midst of the war when talking to local community volunteers, humanitarian partners, governors, mayors and their teams.

You will hear more from Denise Brown, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, on the immense humanitarian needs and challenges our partners on the ground are facing.

I am pleased to say that we enjoy excellent cooperation between the UN and the Ukrainian Government at the national and regional level. We have to continue to work together to provide relief to the people.

More than 650 humanitarian partners are working tirelessly to deliver critical aid to millions of people. The majority of them are Ukrainian organizations – such as Fin Ukraine who you will also hear more from today.

For all these organizations to be able to deliver that aid, they need your support.

And this is why we are launching this appeal today:

We need $3.9 billion to help more than 11.1 million people in Ukraine with food, healthcare, cash and other life-saving assistance. And more will be needed, as we will hear from Filippo, to support those forced to flee to neighbouring countries.

We will continue to prioritize assistance to people who need it most:

Those uprooted by the war or families who have returned to towns or villages in ruin.
Those living in areas already impacted by years of fighting, many of them older people and people with disabilities.

Those who are caregivers and face immense obstacles in leaving home or accessing aid.

We will continue to support local authorities and civil society organizations, whose dedication has been inspiring. We must do all we can to reach the hardest-to-reach communities, including those close to the front line, where needs are acute. We must spare no effort to meet the specific concerns of vulnerable women, men, girls and boys.

As I stand before you today, multiple large-scale crises are converging globally – including the terrible earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria where I was just this past week; famine looming in the Horn of Africa; prolonged conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and many other countries; and not to forget the intensifying climate crisis.

The needs have never been higher.

And solidarity and multilateralism have never been more critical. Thank you.