The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNHCR , UNICEF
Bi-Weekly Press Briefing: Ukraine war one year - UNICEF, UNHCR, IFRC
Children in Ukraine have endured violence, trauma, loss, destruction and displacement since the Russian full-scale invasion in February 2022, leaving 4.1 million children in need of humanitarian assistance inside the country, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
“We have data that 487 children have been killed and 954 injured inside Ukraine and those are verified estimates alongside OHCHR (the UN human rights office and its monitoring mission in Ukraine), and the use of explosive weapons causing those child casualties,” said Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, speaking to the media at the United Nations in Geneva.
Schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure on which children depend continue to be damaged or destroyed. UNICEF estimates that more than 800 health facilities were shelled in the last year, while an estimated 1.5 million children have suffered severe mental health trauma, having experienced the war.
“We see health facilities damaged or destroyed by shelling,” said Ms. Khan. “This has serious repercussions on the ability to provide basic services to children inside Ukraine. The mental health disorders for children who have witnessed family members killed and injured, losing friends, losing neighbours”.
Families have been separated and lives torn apart, UN humanitarians have warned, as fighting continues in the east and south of Ukraine. As part of the response, UNICEF has helped 1.4 million children with formal and informal education. The UN agency has also provided 224,000 households with multi-purpose cash assistance.
“We have focused very much on cash assistance to families inside Ukraine,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia. “The figure is several hundred million(s) of dollars in cash assistance, and we have targeted by focusing on children and families with large numbers of dependents and children with a disability.”
Children who have been separated from their parents are also at higher risk of abuse, exploitation and trafficking as they flee violence, UNICEF warned. It estimates that two million Ukrainian children have crossed into neighbouring countries as refugees and another 2.5 million are displaced inside the country.
On the overall number of displacements caused by the war in Ukraine, Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), said that “we are looking unfortunately at a situation where there are 13 million people who have been uprooted from their homes and among those there are eight million refugees who fled across Europe, and more than five million people who are internally displaced within the country”.
Providing mental health to the Ukrainian population is also one of the priorities of UN partner, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
“One of the top issues that we are seeing and need to highlight are the psychological wounds that are not only adding another cruel layer of pain to people already struggling to cope, the anguish and the torment of the last year has hit people very hard, and this continues,” said Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen IFRC’s Regional Director for Europe. She added that “people are right now living in freezing temperatures without power, heat and in some cases without water due to the damages of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure”.
For those Ukrainians who have left the country and are trying to settle elsewhere, they are burdened with administrative hurdles in addition to their suffering from the war. “Some are now facing what we can call a ‘red tape nightmare’ of providing qualifications – and of proving qualifications - and training in order to be able to find and get work”, said IFRC’s Europe Director. “Accreditations are needed, legal attestations of documents and in some cases, this is super complex and costly for people who are dealing with many other issues at the same time.”
-ends-
STORY: Ukraine war one year – UNICEF, UNHCR, IFRC
TRT: 2:43 mins
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 24 February 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Medium shot, UN Geneva flag alley.
- Wide shot, press room with moderator and screens with speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia: “We have data that 487 children have been killed and 954 injured inside Ukraine and those are verified estimates alongside OHCHR and the use of explosive weapons causing those child casualties”.
- Medium shot, camera women and journalists in the background
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia: ”We see health facilities as well damaged or destroyed by shelling. This has serious repercussions on the ability to provide basic services to children inside Ukraine. The mental health disorders for children who have witnessed family members killed and injured, losing friends, losing neighbors”.
- Medium shot, podium with speakers + screen and journalists
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia: “We have focused very much on cash assistance to families inside Ukraine. The figure is several hundred million of dollars in cash assistance, and we have targeted by focusing on children and families with large numbers of dependents and children with a disability”.
- Close up, journalist working with laptop
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): “We are looking unfortunately at a situation where there are 13 million people who have been uprooted from their homes and among those there are eight million refugees who fled across Europe, and more than five million people who are internally displaced within the country”.
- Wide shot, journalist from behind with Shabia Mantoo speaking at the podium
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen (Zoom from Budapest), IFRC Regional Director for Europe: “One of the top issues that we are seeing and need to highlight are the psychological wounds that are not only adding another cruel layer of pain to people already struggling to cope, the anguish and the torment of the last year has hit people very hard, and this continues”.
- Medium shot, journalists working at their laptops
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen (Zoom from Budapest), IFRC Regional Director for Europe: “People are right now living in freezing temperatures without power, heat and in some cases without water due to the damages of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure”.
- Medium shot, journalists in press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) - Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen (Zoom from Budapest), IFRC Regional Director for Europe: “Also, some are now facing what we can call a ‘red tape nightmare’ of proofing qualifications - and of proving qualifications - and training in order to be able to find and get work. Accreditations are needed, legal attestations of documents and in some cases, this is super complex and costly for people who are dealing with many other issues at the same time”.
- Medium shot, screen with speakers on the left, journalists sitting on the right
- Wide shot, camerawoman filming, journalists in the background
- Close up, hands typing on laptop
Similar Stories
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday provided and oral update to the 63rd session of the Human rights Council on the human rights situation in Haiti.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Repeated delays in bringing lifesaving medicines, prosthetics and more from Israel into Gaza risk having devastating consequences on Palestinians who urgently need them in the wartorn enclave, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. “A truck full of non-priority supplies or the right supplies arriving too late, doesn't save lives. That's the question that actually matters," said Dr Reinhilde Van De Weerdt, WHO Representative in the OPT.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DRC: Early access to care and oxygen decisive for Ebola patients’ survival – WHO
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health workers fighting the country’s largest-ever Ebola outbreak are struggling to overcome critical challenges to patient care, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UN
Civilians in Iran are continuing to feel the consequences of months of conflict and military escalation, the UN’s top official in the country has said, as loss of life, damage to civilian infrastructure and mounting economic pressures leave many facing continued uncertainty.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNICEF
Aid agencies in Yemen highlighted the growing hunger emergency sparked by renewed fighting between Houthi opposition forces and Government troops, after mobile health clinics reported that hundreds of children displaced by the violence are suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Displacement on the rise in Yemen as fighting continues - UNHCR
As hostilities worsen in Yemen, more people have been fleeing their homes, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis within the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , OHCHR , UNFPA , UNOG , UNHCR , WHO
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
Yemenis displaced by renewed fighting have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office issued on Friday a report documenting a shocking pattern of sexual violence amid Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine.
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
The deadly Ebola virus outbreak in DR Congo continues to spread across the vast country despite some success in containing it, aid officials said on Tuesday, in a renewed call for international support to help responders on the ground.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WFP
‘Super El Niño’ and converging crises worsen hunger in South Sudan and across the region - WFP
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.