Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis

• In 2023, 17.6 million people in Ukraine require humanitarian assistance, 45% of whom are women, 23% are children and 15% are people with disabilities.
• As of May 2, 2023, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported 23,375 civilian casualties in the country, including 8,709 killed and 14,666 injured. OHCHR said the actual figures are considerably higher, and most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused “by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area.”
• As of May 16, 2023, more than 8.24 million refugees from Ukraine were recorded across Europe, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
• The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on April 28, 2023, that more than 13.5 million people are affected by displacement within and beyond Ukraine’s borders.
• As of Jan. 23, 2023, there are an estimated 5.4 million IDPs in Ukraine. This represents a decrease compared to the 5.9 million as of Dec. 5, 2022. Since August 2022, the number of IDPs has been on a downward trend.
• According to a Multi-Sector Needs Assessment released in March 2023, 42% of assessed households across Ukraine had “Extreme or Extreme+” levels of needs, driven by livelihoods, shelter and non-food items and protection indicators.
• Between Feb. 24, 2022, and May 23, 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) verified 974 attacks on health care in Ukraine, resulting in 101 deaths and 136 injuries.
• As of May 4, 2023, there were more than 5.54 million cases of COVID-19 and 112,271 deaths in Ukraine. As of May 15, the average daily number of new COVID-19 cases was 677, a decrease from 945 per day in the previous week.
• According to Ukrainian authorities, in February 2023, the areas contaminated with mines and explosives had increased tenfold since the start of the war, with an estimated 30% of the country’s territory contaminated by mines.
• Humanitarian partners reached nearly six million people with multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) in 2022. More than $1.2 billion was provided to people impacted by the war in Ukraine. It was the fastest and largest cash programming scale-up in humanitarian history.
• As of Dec. 31, 2022, UN agencies and humanitarian partners had reached 15.8 million people with humanitarian assistance since Feb. 24, 2022. The oblast with the most people reached is Kharkivska.
• The latest Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment released on March 23, 2023 by Ukraine’s government, the World Bank Group, the European Commission and the UN estimates that the cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine has grown to $411 billion, 2.6 times the country’s estimated 2022 GDP.

The 2023 HRP reports that: “The closer an area is to ongoing hostilities, the more difficult humanitarian access becomes due to damage to transportation infrastructure, constant threat from active military operations, and the presence of mines and explosive remnants of war.”

According to UNOCHA in their humanitarian access snapshot released Feb. 5, 2023, “More than 25 per cent of the nearly 18 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Ukraine live in districts where humanitarian access is extremely restricted.”

In their February 2023 thematic report on humanitarian access in Ukraine, ACAPS said, “Mykolaiv oblast and parts of Kherson oblast on the right bank of the Dnipro River have become newly accessible. Constraints remained high as at February 2023, due to severe damage to civilian infrastructure, the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), and shelling, especially in Kherson oblast.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delivered aid to areas close to Bakhmut in the Donetsk region in March 2023. The ICRC said, “Most people who could leave have already been evacuated, but for those that remain, the situation is dire and the constant hostilities prevents them from accessing the most basic services.”

Continuing, the 2023 HRP states that “marginalized groups are likely to possess reduced resources for withstanding conflict driven economic disruption as well as compounding barriers to accessing humanitarian assistance, including lack of physical accessibility, reduced services, stigma and lack of access to information.”

In October 2022, NGOs called for unhindered access for all humanitarian staff and assistance, including in areas outside Ukrainian control, which continues to be denied. Now that winter is here, humanitarian organizations are actively distributing generators to hospitals and some schools, providing repair support to collective centers and damaged homes and cash to cover essential costs.

The 2023 Refugee Response Plan (RRP) for refugees from Ukraine appeals for more than $1.7 billion and includes 10 refugee host countries. The RRP funds will help 4.2 million Ukrainian refugees and communities in the countries hosting them.

The RRP states, “The refugee response is, broadly speaking, moving away from the acute phase of the emergency towards effective and sustained inclusion in national systems and services, maintaining protection space, and targeted support to the most vulnerable. That said, new displacement from Ukraine is likely to continue, due to the ongoing war, the harsh conditions of winter and a lack of access to fuel and adequate shelter inside the country.”

From Feb. 24, 2022 to May 16, 2023, there were more than 21.73 million border crossings from Ukraine, according to UNHCR. As of May 16, 2023, 8,240,289 refugees from Ukraine were recorded across Europe. As of May 15, Poland had seen 11,605,823 border crossings from Ukrainians fleeing the war and 1,602,062 refugees from Ukraine recorded in the country, the most of any neighboring country.

On March 4, 2022, “European Union (EU) Member States activated the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) for the first time. The TPD stipulates that all Member States must grant temporary protection (TP) to Ukrainians and persons with protection status in Ukraine and their family members residing in Ukraine before 24 February.”

As of May 16, 2023, 2,734,298 Ukrainian refugees were registered for Temporary Protection or similar national schemes in neighboring countries. The TPD is the first time the bloc has invoked such an emergency power. Observers have noted that the reception for Ukrainians in the EU is in stark contrast to how the continent has viewed asylum seekers from other parts of the world.

On March 2, 2023, humanitarian organizations providing assistance inside Ukraine, to refugees who have fled the country and to host communities, applauded the activation of the TPD in March 2023. Yet, they said, “ensuring all refugees from Ukraine enjoy the rights provided by the TPD has not been without challenges.” The organizations called on the EU and Member States to redouble efforts to ensure its effective, uniform and inclusive implementation.

In their Jan. 27, 2023 Ukraine Situation Flash Update, UNHCR said that the number of border crossings to neighboring countries consistently exceeded departures to Ukraine in the reporting period. In 2023, UNHCR’s primary focus will be “to advocate for their [refugees] inclusion in national systems and to support governments in these efforts. Working hand in hand with national and local actors, UNHCR will aim to ensure that refugees have access to education, employment, housing, social welfare and medical or other assistance, which will also strengthen social cohesion.”

According to the IOM’s General Population Survey (Round 12), an estimated 5,352,000 people have been internally displaced within the country since Dec. 5, 2022. Of these, nearly three million are women, and 41% include one or more older persons. Almost two million IDPs are in Ukraine’s east.

The General Population Survey finds that protracted displacement is becoming more prevalent in Ukraine. As of Jan. 23, 2023, 58% of all IDPs have been displaced for six months or more. The war has severely impacted the income sources of IDPs. Nearly one in four IDP survey respondents said that monthly livelihood cash assistance for IDPs was their primary source of household income. As of January 2023, the majority of active “collective sites” ready to host IDPs were in Ukraine’s west.

IOM estimates 5,562,000 total returnees since Dec. 5, 2022, including former IDPs from locations within Ukraine and self-reported returns from outside the country. There are concerns about less attention and support for IDPs compared to refugees. According to a winter needs assessment carried out by the International Rescue Committee in five oblasts in December 2022, 25% of respondents did not have access to sufficient heating and 61.3% said their houses needed repairs.

As early as April 2022, IOM began observing significant movements of displaced people back to their place of residence. IOM defines return as “the act or process of going back or being taken back to the point of departure.”

According to IOM’s General Population Survey (Round 12) while it is impossible to determine whether returns are permanent or temporary, among returnees, “80 per cent indicate they are planning to remain in their homes (equivalent to 4.4 million), and 85 per cent have been in their homes for a period longer than one month.”

In their Ukraine Returns Report, published on Feb. 16, 2023, IOM reiterated the challenge of understanding the nature of returns by saying, “Due to the volatility of the current situation, it is impossible to determine what proportion of the returns observed at present are permanent or temporary. Existing data shows, however, that the returnee population in Ukraine is characterized by a unique set of needs and vulnerabilities which set it apart from those who had never been displaced as well as from IDPs.”

A study from the Norwegian Refugee Council on refugee returns from Poland in July and August 2022 found that 50% of survey respondents said their children had not attended school since leaving Ukraine. Additionally, the primary factor driving return for a third of respondents was family reunification and the wish to return to their country; the vast majority were returning to their previous home.

While human trafficking in Ukraine was widespread before the war, indications show an increased risk of trafficking since the war in Ukraine began. These risks are expected to increase as the war continues and more people are displaced. The Global Protection Cluster published a guide that provides direction on preventing trafficking, who to work with in doing so and what support victims require.

There were nearly 80,000 foreign students in Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict. Many are Indian or African (mostly from Morocco, Egypt and Nigeria) and both groups reported stories of racism and discrimination at the border in trying to leave the country when the war began.

The Biden administration announced in April 2022 that the U.S. would accept 100,000 Ukrainians through an online portal named Uniting for Ukraine. Under this program, more than 118,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the U.S. as of March 2023. On March 18, 2023, CBS News reported that “The Biden administration is allowing thousands of Ukrainian refugees who were processed along the southern border after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to remain and work in the U.S. legally for at least another year.”

According to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), “Many Ukrainians in the U.S. could soon face legal uncertainty when they are unable to return home and their humanitarian parole expires as soon as this March.” On Feb. 15, 2023, IRC called on the Biden administration to ensure “parole and work authorization extensions are provided to Ukrainians in the U.S. to avoid sending people back into harm’s way and so they may continue to sustain their livelihoods and support themselves and their families.”

According to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll in April 2022, 65% of Americans favor accepting Ukrainian refugees into the U.S., while 15% oppose it. More than 40 major companies in the U.S., including Hilton, Amazon, Pfizer and Pepsico, pledged in September 2022 to hire nearly 23,000 refugees over the next three years. However, their promises do not match the increase in new arrivals.

Ukraine has more than 130 ethnic groups, many of whom speak other languages. Groups with heightened vulnerabilities include the Roma community, the elderly, people with disabilities, women in rural communities in displacement and conflict zones, and LGBTQIA+ communities.

According to the 2023 Ukraine Humanitarian Needs Overview, “The highest severity of needs is among people living in areas under the temporary military control of the Russian Federation and in areas directly affected by active hostilities.”

Additionally, among people who remain in towns and villages, the highest needs are in the east, especially among older people and people with disabilities.

Many homes that care for older Ukrainians and those with disabilities in eastern Ukraine have evacuated their residents to Dnipro, and many residents are traumatized. Older adults face increasing challenges in accessing services and forced separation and isolation. The harsh winter weather and lack of power and electricity caused by Russian attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure creates particular challenges for older people because of existing health problems, limited mobility and little income.

According to a report by Amnesty International released on Dec. 6, 2022, “older people in Ukraine have been disproportionately impacted by death and injury during Russia’s invasion and are unable to access housing on an equal basis with others after being displaced.” Older people often remain in or are not able to flee affected areas, meaning they are exposed to harm.

According to the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) General Population Survey (Round 12), 25% of IDP households had one or more people living with a disability and 41% included at least one older person.

On Jan. 24, 2023, International Day of Education, UNICEF said, “Some 5.3 million children face barriers preventing access to education, including 3.6 million children directly affected by school closures.” The UN agency warned that this places children in Ukraine at risk of losing critical years of schooling and social development.

After Feb. 24, 2022, all education programs in the country were stopped for two weeks, and the conflict disrupted education for the rest of the school year for children in several oblasts. Ukraine’s Ministry of Education says that since the war began, more than 2,600 schools have been damaged and over 400 destroyed across Ukraine.

The first day of school for the new 2022-2023 academic year in Ukraine was on Sept. 1, but the situation is far from normal. According to the Ministry of Education and Science, 27% of schools resumed face-to-face learning, 43% distance learning and 30% mix modality. A mere 25% of Ukrainian schools nationwide have been able to offer full-time, in-person learning since September 2022.

On Jan. 24, 2023, Save the Children said one school has been destroyed every other day in Ukraine since the start of the academic year in September 2022. The ongoing attacks mean Ukrainian schools cannot have onsite classes without a functional bomb shelter.

Multiple forms of gender-based violence (GBV) have been reported, with high risk for women and girls fleeing, at border crossing points, transit centers and bomb shelters. A report from HIAS and VOICE released in May 2022 discusses a range of GBV risks, including an increase in domestic violence and an extreme lack of safe and sustainable housing and shelter options. Civil society organizations have responded to meet immediate needs but face many challenges in attempting to provide support to large numbers of internally displaced people.

According to a GBV Task Force formed by members of the GBV sub-cluster and the Cash Working Group, the Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) scheme registration is mainly done online, which is a barrier to people without access to the internet, including older women. Additionally, women from some ethnic minority groups, such as Roma, may have more difficulties registering for CVA due to a lack of documentation.

People that identify as LGBTQIA+ people in Ukraine often cannot reveal their sexual orientation or gender identity, fearing violence, rejection and discrimination if they do. People’s identities are complex and intersect in ways that can exacerbate inequitable outcomes. Discrimination and other difficulties often add barriers to accessing humanitarian assistance and services. Transgender persons whose gender identity does not match their official identity documents face significant barriers. Dozens of LBGTQIA+ Ukrainians have reported being turned away at official Ukrainian border crossings and experienced mistreatment by authorities.

The war has devastated Ukraine’s economy, with hostilities and displacement driving loss of livelihoods and income.

The 2023 HRP says, “A majority of Ukrainians have reportedly reduced food consumption and spent savings, with factors such as the elimination of 30 per cent of Ukraine’s pre-war employment,  skyrocketing inflation, and inadequate social assistance largely to blame.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had multiple negative economic impacts on Ukraine. According to ACAPS, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) “decreased by 30% in 2022. Exports and tax income have decreased at a time when increased defence spending is drastically increasing government spending. The devaluation of the Ukrainian hryvnia and increase in inflation are driving up prices.”

These negative economic impacts contribute to a wide range of humanitarian consequences and needs and demonstrate the importance of humanitarian aid that provides cash assistance and livelihood support.

Ukraine’s agricultural sector is a crucial source of livelihood for Ukrainians, especially those living in rural areas. Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the agricultural sector accounts for 11% of the country’s gross domestic product and almost 40% of total exports.

According to OEC, “The top exports of Ukraine are Seed Oils ($5.32B), Corn ($4.89B), Wheat ($4.61B), Iron Ore ($4.27B), and Semi-Finished Iron ($3.03B), exporting mostly to China ($7.26B), Poland ($3.26B), Russia ($2.97B), Turkey ($2.5B), and Egypt ($2.39B).”

Sunflower may be the most important crop to the Ukrainian economy, considering the size of agricultural holdings, the value of its products and the number of jobs it creates. From Feb. 24 to Oct. 4, 2022, REACH recorded 72 cases of damage or destruction of agricultural machinery. The impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the country’s sunflower oil processing supply chain has been significant.

Humanitarian partners are prioritizing the provision of food in hard-to-reach and frontline areas. Livestock owners in Khersonska oblast have been unable to graze their animals because their fields have been contaminated by landmines and unexploded ordnance.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP)’s February 2023 food security trend analysis: “Households chiefly relied on cash purchases as their main source of food, and while markets saw some critical disruptions in the early months of the war, supply issues relatively quickly stabilised in most of the country, outside the vicinity of the front line. At the same time, lack of access to stable income emerged as a critical issue. Adding to this picture the steadily upward trend of food inflation seen throughout most of 2022, it is clear that economic access to food remains a key issue for food security, as purchasing power has been hollowed out in 2022.”

Reinforcing these messages in their Multisectoral Needs Assessment released on April 25, 2023, REACH and WFP said: “In accessible areas, the data suggests that the main driver of food security is economic access. Analysis of consumption expenditures illustrated that a majority of HHs [households] lack economic capacity to meet essential needs and many HHs deploy expenditure-related strategies such as using their savings, cutting essential expenditures or taking on extra work to cope with a lack of resources.”

The conflict is likely to exacerbate world hunger, particularly in countries already facing famine or high levels of malnutrition and food shortages. It will also increase the costs of many products globally. Ukraine exported a number of products that will significantly impact the global food supply chain. Ukraine and Russia export 28% of the world’s wheat and 15% of its corn.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, combined with lingering pandemic effects and an increase in climate-related events, will have far-reaching consequences globally. The war in Ukraine has sent food prices soaring, exacerbating the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. The WFP has urged for a “political solution” as the closure of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea threatens food supplies globally.

An agreement in July with the UN and Turkey aimed to facilitate shipments of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, with the deal aiming to ease the global food shortage. On Aug. 3, 2022, the first shipment of Ukrainian food under the deal was cleared to proceed from Istanbul to its destination in Lebanon. On Oct. 29, Russia suspended its involvement in the agreement only to resume its cooperation in early November. The agreement has allowed around 10 million tons of foodstuffs to enter the world market. The agreement was due to expire on Nov. 19, however, an extension was reached for another 120 days.

On March 17, 2023, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, told the UN Security Council, “Under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, close to 25 million metric tons of foodstuffs have been safely exported from Ukraine since August. WFP has been able to transport more than half a million metric tons of wheat to support humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen.” The deal was set to expire on March 18, 2023. The UN and Turkey said on March 18 that the deal had been extended but did not say for how long. Russia said the renewal could next expire on May 18 and has renewed threats of abandoning the initiative.

Ukraine says speeding up inspections of ships is key to increasing exports under the agreement. Russia continues to restrict most shipments from Ukraine and attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure contribute to disrupting the flow of food onto global markets. However, despite grain once again leaving Ukrainian ports and fertilizer prices falling, the world is still struggling with the worst food crisis in modern history. Concerns remain, given that food prices appear to have stabilized at high levels.

During all disasters, there are unique needs faced by women and girls, and these are exacerbated in a conflict crisis. In 2023, 44% of the 17.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance are women, and 11% are girls. Expectations of traditional gender roles are likely to have compounding impacts on women and men in Ukraine. As of July 2022, 61% of registered unemployed persons in Ukraine are women. For displaced women and new returnees, finding new livelihoods is a considerable challenge.

There have been numerous reports of rape and other forms of gender-based violence (GBV). According to GBV Sub-Cluster estimates, “3.6 million including IDPs, returnees to war-affected regions, and those remaining in areas under occupation or ongoing military hostilities require immediate and sustained support to access GBV prevention and response services.”

On May 3, 2022, the UN and the government of Ukraine signed a framework to assist survivors of sexual violence. On June 20, the Ukrainian government announced having ratified the Council of Europe’s “Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence,” also known as the Istanbul Convention.

The convention establishes legally binding standards for governments to prevent violence against all women and girls, support survivors, and hold abusers to account. The move was welcomed by rights groups, including Human Rights Watch.

CARE produced a rapid gender analysis (RGA) brief on the Ukraine crisis that highlights significant gender issues – both pre-existing issues and ones that have emerged as a result of the conflict – so that humanitarian responses can better meet people’s different needs as the crisis evolves.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the needs of women and girls must be prioritized because of the ongoing threats that they face. A report from HIAS and VOICE released in May 2022 revealed that top concerns for women and girls include threats to physical safety, food insecurity and lack of healthcare access.

In a note on the gender-related impacts of the conflict in April 2022, the FAO said: “Increasing food insecurity and water and energy scarcity, as a result of the crisis, may place women and girls at higher risk of domestic violence due to heightened tensions in the household and communities.”