Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis

The escalating use of explosives in populated areas has had a disproportionate effect on children, people with disabilities and older adults. Explosives have devastated essential infrastructure, including homes, hospitals and schools. The World Health Organization has verified 2,209 attacks on health care facilities.

In 2025, 12.5 million people in Ukraine will require humanitarian aid.  

Exposure to conflict is cited as the most prevalent risk to children. Even if children can access shelters, the shelters may not be safe. They are often in dark, cold, wet basements; they smell of sewage and lack basic sanitation.

Women and children account for 90% of people displaced by the crisis, making them vulnerable to sexual exploitation and gender-based violence. 

Since the war began, 4 million children have had their education disrupted, coming on the heels of COVID-19. More than 600,000 children do not have access to in-person learning at all. While nearly 75% of children access remote schooling inside Ukraine, constant disruptions to the internet, electricity, or a lack of hardware make it unsuitable as a long-term solution. With these disruptions, students are losing between 60 and 160 hours of learning per month. 

The closer children live to the frontline, the more they rely on remote learning, but the more disruptions they may face. Around 1 in 7 schools have shuttered because they were destroyed or damaged or because they lack secure bomb shelters. 

Lastly, approximately half of Ukrainian refugee children in neighboring countries are not enrolled in their host country’s schools. Even if children attend school, the mental and emotional toll of living through war has a disastrous effect on learning.  

“It is very difficult emotionally and morally. Periodic air raids, blackouts, lack of internet… Children are afraid,” a teacher in the Lviv region said. The downstream effects of disrupted education in children have enormous consequences for their prospects and the future of Ukrainian society.

Save the Children reports a lack of adapted facilities, such as ramps, restrooms, and classrooms, in almost all regions, making physical access to education challenging for children with disabilities. There is also a lack of specialists and teachers to cater to the specific needs of these children. 

Ukraine plans to open over 150 underground schools by fall of 2025.  

The effects of war on women are catastrophic. In Ukraine, women are 72% of unemployed people; they face a heightened risk of human trafficking, sexual and physical violence.

Women account for 60% of internally displaced people as well as the greatest proportion of refugees. Yet, protections and aid for women and girls remain underfunded.

Women often lack resources, face barriers to accessing services and are vulnerable to gender-based violence (GBV).

Many women are reluctant to discuss issues of violence and sexual assault. Except for one hromada (or municipality), there are no internationally-led programs to address GBV issues in provinces closer to the frontline.

According to UNOCHA, “Gender-Based Violence (GBV) remains one of the most pervasive and structurally embedded human rights violations and continues to disproportionately affect refugee populations.”