Full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has sown ‘psychological terror’, warns top aid coordinator

In the nearly three years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the country’s people have endured continuous attacks, “psychological terror…displacement and hardship”, top UN aid coordinator Matthias Schmale said on Friday.

Briefing from Ukrainian capital Kyiv after another night of “air sirens and more loud explosions”, Mr. Schmale noted that the crisis began in 2014, with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. “So, all children that were born since - all children up to the age of 11 - have never experienced their country at peace,” he said.

According to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, 2024 saw a 30 per cent increase in civilian casualties compared to 2023. “The humanitarian situation is worsening, especially in frontline areas,” it said in an update, highlighting that a full 36 per cent of Ukraine’s population - 12.7 million people - needs humanitarian aid this year.

“There are very strong pushes by the armed forces of the Russian Federation along the front line and evacuations are ongoing,” Mr. Schmale explained. “We are supporting people with essential goods, including cash assistance, as they are on the move to transit centres, collective sites and wherever they end up being.”

Speaking from Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, Toby Fricker from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that more than 2,520 children have been killed or injured since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.

“The real number is likely far higher and it’s getting worse”, said Mr. Fricker, chief of communication in Ukraine. “There was a more than 50 per cent increase in child casualties in 2024 compared to 2023 and what we see is no place is safe: schools, maternity wards, children’s hospitals, all have been affected by attacks.”

Underscoring the essential role played by women in Ukraine “beyond the battlefield”, UN Women Geneva Director Sofia Calltorp explained that “there is another story unfolding, and that is the story of all those women and girls who are bearing the brunt of this war.”

In 2024, the number of people killed and injured in Ukraine increased by 30 per cent, Ms. Calltorp noted. “Of them, 800 women lost their lives and more than 3,700 women were injured last year in Ukraine. We also know that the vast majority of Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons are women, and 6.7 million women are in need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.”

Responding to questions about the impact of the US funding freeze on humanitarian work, Ukraine Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. Schmale expressed “hope that US funding will become part of the equation. Last year, it made up 30 per cent of what we spent on the humanitarian side, 10 per cent on the development side.”

The UN’s top aid official in Ukraine added: “We are of course worried about the funding freezes; as we all know, it's not the end of the day yet, there are a lot of discussions going on. We have some of our partners, including within the UN, that have received some exemptions from the general freeze of funding, but so far, no money has been flowing as a result of those exemptions.”

In addition to repeated attacks on energy infrastructure across Ukraine, other public facilities have also been targeted, with 780 health centres and more than 1,600 schools damaged or destroyed, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

“In Odessa this week we saw a health clinic providing care for 40,000 children and a kindergarten serving 250 of the youngest children were severely damaged in an attack,” said Dr Jarno Harbicht, WHO Country Representative for Ukraine. “When a children's hospital is hit, a school shelled or electric grid destroyed, children suffer even when they survive.”

The mental stress faced by millions of Ukrainians because of the war is real and debilitating, the WHO official continued: “Imagine a young mother in Kharkiv region in Ukraine, her days interrupted by air raid sirens and her nights haunted by drones. Each day is a struggle balancing her children’s safety with their anxiety that has become her constant companion.”

ends

STORY: Ukraine aid and funding update - OCHA, UNICEF, UN Women, WHO

TRT: 3 min 18s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 21 FEBRUARY 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Speakers:

• Matthias Schmale, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine (from Kyiv)
• Toby Fricker UNICEF’s chief of communication in Ukraine (from Zaporizhzhia)
• Dr Jarno Harbicht, WHO Country Representative for Ukraine (from Tallinn, Estonia)
• Sofia Calltorp, Director, UN Women Geneva

SHOTLIST

1. Exterior medium: UN Geneva flag alley.
2. Wide: moderator at the podium in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Toby Fricker UNICEF’s chief of communication in Ukraine (from Zaporizhzhia): “Three years into the full-scale war, more than 2,520 children have been killed or injured, according to UN-verified numbers. The real number is likely far higher and it’s getting worse; there was a more than 50 per cent increase in child casualties in 2024 compared to 2023 and what we see is no place is safe: schools, maternity wards, children’s hospitals, all have been affected by attacks.”
4. Medium-wide, podium speakers.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Matthias Schmale, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine (from Kyiv): “We should remember that for three years now, civilians in Ukraine have endured continuous attacks, displacement and hardship. We must also remember that this began back in 2014. So, all children that were born since - all children up to the age of 11 - have never experienced their country at peace.”
6. Medium-wide: Press room, TV screens showing external speaker; journalists.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Matthias Schmale, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine (from Kyiv): “This past night, all of us here in Kyiv were woken up yet again by air sirens and more loud explosions. And this of course has a serious psychological impact, I sometimes call this psychological terror from the sky and this is weakening resilience.”
8. Medium-wide: Press room, TV screens showing external speaker, podium moderator, TV journalist.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Matthias Schmale, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine (from Kyiv): “There are very strong pushes by the armed forces of the Russian Federation along the front line and evacuations are ongoing. We are supporting people with essential goods, including cash assistance, as they are on the move to transit centres, collective sites and wherever they end up being.”
10. Wide, Press room, journalists, TV screens showing external speaker.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr Jarno Harbicht, WHO Country Representative for Ukraine (from Tallinn, Estonia): “Imagine a young mother in Kharkiv region in Ukraine, her days interrupted by air raid sirens and her nights haunted by drones. Each day is a struggle balancing her children's safety with their anxiety that has become her constant companion.”
12. Medium-wide: Press room, journalists.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Sofia Calltorp, Director, UN Women Geneva: “Behind the headlines, beyond the battlefield, there is another story unfolding and that is the story of all those women and girls who are bearing the brunt of this war.”
14. Medium-wide: Press room, podium, TV screens.
15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Sofia Calltorp, Director, UN Women Geneva: “In 2024, the number of killed and injured in Ukraine increased by a staggering 30 per cent. And of them, 800 women lost their lives and more than 3,700 women were killed last year - were injured - in Ukraine. We also know that the vast majority of Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons are women and 6.7 million women are in need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.”
16. Medium, video journalist.
17. SOUNDBITE (English) – Matthias Schmale, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine (from Kyiv): “We are of course worried about the funding freezes as we all know, it's not the end of the day yet, there are a lot of discussions going on. We have some of our partners, including within the UN, have received some exemptions from the general freeze of funding, but so far no money has been flowing as a result of those exemptions.”
18. Medium, journalist listening, wearing headphones.
19. Wide, Press room.