Use of long-range weapons in Ukraine war has 'steadily increased' civilian toll: UN

HAMILTON, Canada

The UN on Monday highlighted the escalating humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, pointing to a sharp rise in civilian casualties caused by long-range weapons.

"Last month, long-range weapons killed 65 civilians and injured 372 across 11 regions of Ukraine," Lisa Doughten, director of the financing and partnerships division at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the UN Security Council, highlighting a deadly surge that doubled October’s figures.

Describing the situation in Ukraine as "catastrophic" with temperatures dropping to as low as -20C (-4F) in some areas, she said: "Daily attacks continue inflicting death, injury and untold suffering on ordinary Ukrainians."

With critical infrastructure continuing to be under attack, Doughten said Ukrainians "face constant shelling and impossible choices: flee in perilous conditions, leaving everything they have, perhaps for the second or third time, or stay and risk injury or death."

"Since March this year, the Russian Armed Forces have conducted repeated large-scale coordinated attacks against Ukraine's energy infrastructure," she said, adding that the UN Development Program (UNDP) reported damage to "more than 60% of energy generation facilities" in Ukraine.

Saying that the attacks have severely disrupted access to heat, electricity and water, Doughten said the humanitarian community is also grappling with mounting difficulties.

"These impacts are exacerbated by a simultaneous and equally egregious increase in attacks harming humanitarian operations," she said, reporting that the number of aid workers killed in Ukraine has almost tripled, rising from four in 2022 and five in 2023 to 11 so far in 2024.

She further said that 14.6 million people across Ukraine require humanitarian assistance, with 10 million displaced by the war.

Regarding funding to the humanitarian response in Ukraine, she said: "So far in 2024, donors have generously contributed almost $2 billion to the humanitarian response. However, there is still a substantial $1.1 billion shortfall."

She urged the international community to "increase and accelerate flexible funding" for 2025.

Doughten also called for "unequivocal" adherence to international humanitarian law to protect civilians, humanitarian personnel and infrastructure.

"What Ukraine and its people need is an end to this devastating war," she said, stressing the urgent need for a resolution to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.