The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UN humanitarians bring aid to millions as the escalating war is taking a heavy toll on civilians
As the fighting continues unabated in Ukraine with devastating impact on communities particularly in the east and south of the country, UN humanitarian partners confirmed on Friday that they have continued to scale up urgently needed assistance.
Priority needs include providing more people with access to clean water and hygiene products as well as with emergency shelter and protection services.
“The escalating war is taking a heavy toll on civilians who live close to the frontlines, people who cannot go back to their homes, and people across the country living under almost daily threats of attacks,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at a news briefing at the UN in Geneva. “‘Mine contamination’ is also a threat to farmers trying to return to their land and humanitarians delivering assistance,” he added.
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) estimates that on average more than 50 people are killed or injured by mines per month. The total number of casualties in Ukraine due to mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in 2023 is 263 killed or injured. However, actual figures might be considerably higher, OHCHR data indicates.
According to OCHA, humanitarian assistance has been provided by hundreds of humanitarian organizations working with local groups and community-based volunteers who play a vital role in getting the assistance delivered to the last mile.
Assistance has included cash to more than 2.1 million people and food for 3.5 million people, while nearly three million gained access to health services and medicines, said OCHA.
“By the end of April, we had reached 5.4 million people this year, around 800,000 people more than the total number assisted by the end of March. More than 60 per cent of those reached are women and girls,” said Mr. Laerke.
However, delivering vital humanitarian aid to villages and towns near the frontlines continues to be challenging.
“Assistance to areas under Russian military control remains extremely limited,” said OCHA’s spokesperson. “This year, because of the worsening security situation and shifts in the frontlines, humanitarian partners have lost access to almost 60,000 people in around 40 towns and villages close to the frontlines in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions.”
At a scheduled briefing in Geneva, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported that the needs of people still directly affected by the war continue to grow. Speaking via Zoom from Budapest, IFRC’s Europe Regional Director Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen said that “people displaced inside Ukraine are struggling with a lack of income and increased stress levels. And we have also seen deteriorating mental health conditions during our psychosocial support activities.”
Since 24 February 2022, more than eight million people have fled Ukraine to seek safety abroad. “People outside Ukraine are struggling financially. They have used up their savings now and lots of them have mounting debts. In many countries, the Red Cross societies are providing cash assistance to people in need,” Ms. Ebbesen added.
-ends-
STORY: Ukraine Humanitarian Needs- OCHA - IFRC
TRT: 01’59”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
RELEASE DATE: 26 May 2023
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot: UN flag alley UN Geneva.
- Wide shot of podium, speakers, journalists, conference room, Palais des Nations, Geneva
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The escalating war is taking a heavy toll on civilians who live close to the frontlines, people who cannot go back to their homes, and people across the country living under almost daily threats of attacks. ‘Mine contamination’ is also a threat to farmers trying to return to their land and humanitarians delivering assistance.”
- Medium shot: journalists, laptops
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “By the end of April, we had reached 5.4 million people this year, around 800,000 people more than the total number assisted by the end of March. More than 60 per cent of those reached are women and girls.”
- Close-up: journalists in conference room
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “Assistance to areas under Russian military control remains extremely limited. This year, because of the worsening security situation, and shifts in the frontlines, humanitarian partners have lost access to almost 60,000 people in around 40 towns and villages close to the frontlines in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions.”
- Wide shot: journalists, with speakers visible on monitor in background
- SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen, IFRC Europe regional director: “People displaced inside Ukraine are struggling with a lack of income, and increased stress levels. And we have also seen deteriorating mental health conditions during our psychosocial support activities. People outside Ukraine are struggling financially. They have used up their savings now, and lots of them have mounting debts. In many countries, the Red Cross societies are providing cash assistance to people in need.”
- Medium shot: journalists in room
- Wide shot: speaker, laptops in foreground
- Close up: journalist typing
Similar Stories
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.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
In war-torn Gaza, a growing number of women-headed households face “impossible decisions” every day, amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes and still-scarce resources, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar at the 63rd Human Rights Council.
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk today delivered an update on the global human rights situation to the 63rdsession of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Repeated attacks on humanitarian warehouses put vital medical aid at risk in Ukraine - WHO
A new airstrike overnight damaged one of the main warehouses used by the UN health agency to store humanitarian medical supplies in the Kyiv region, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. This is the third attack to affect a WHO-used storage in the last three months.
2
2
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | WMO
Powerful El Niño heightens extreme-weather risks through 2027, as countries brace for impact - WMO
Fuelled by extraordinarily warm waters across the tropical Pacific Ocean, the El Niño climate pattern is expected to intensify in the coming months. Forecasters are almost certain that it will persist through February next year, with unusually warm conditions expected across the globe.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , IFRC , UN WOMEN , WHO
Nepal flood deaths near 1,000 as those spared struggle to survive – UN humanitarians
With the death toll in Nepal’s catastrophic flash floods inching towards 1,000, rescue workers are facing harsh conditions while survivors lack access to food, safe water and health care, humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNDRR , IFRC , WHO
Nepal: Flooding disaster “not over” as humanitarians work around the clock
While search and rescue efforts continued Friday following flash floods and mudslides in northern Nepal, UN humanitarians are taking stock of the devastation amid concerns over more flooding to come.