Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
UN briefing flags rising civilian toll, infrastructure damage and urgent funding shortfall in Ukraine
Loading...
Summary
An unidentified speaker at a United Nations briefing warned of mounting civilian casualties, waves of attacks on energy and transport infrastructure, and significant humanitarian funding gaps, and urged unimpeded access and full funding ahead of a Ukraine recovery conference in Berlin.
An unidentified speaker at a United Nations briefing on the situation in Ukraine warned that civilian casualties and damage to essential infrastructure have continued to escalate, citing UN human-rights and development agency figures and urging full funding of the 2024 humanitarian response plan.
The speaker said "the civilian toll of attacks on Ukraine has continued to mount," singling out an escalation in fighting in the Kharkiv region since May 10 and citing OHCHR data that "at least 174 civilians were killed, 90 were injured in May," the highest monthly civilian casualty figure since June 2023. The speaker also said OHCHR has "now verified the killing of at least 11,000 civilians and the injury of more than 21,000 others across Ukraine since 24/02/2022," and added that "the actual toll is likely much higher."
The briefing highlighted large-scale displacement and humanitarian operations in frontline areas. According to the speaker, International Organization for Migration estimates more than 18,100 people were newly displaced in the Kharkiv region; the speaker said about 12,000 people are receiving assistance at a transit centre in Kharkiv city, including food, clothing, bedding, cash, psychosocial support and legal assistance. The speaker described dire conditions for civilians in border and frontline areas who are cut off from food, medical care, electricity and gas, and noted that elderly people have been disproportionately affected.
On infrastructure, the speaker said the UN and its partners have identified six waves of attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure across 15 regions since 22 March 2024, affecting health care, social payments, transport services and utility supplies. Quoting preliminary United Nations Development Programme estimates, the speaker said Ukraine's energy system "is now down over 60% of its prewar generation capacity" (the UNDP figure was described in the briefing as preliminary and based on available official data).
The speaker also warned that damage to transport and port infrastructure, including in the Black Sea, is creating "worrying indications of renewed upwards pressure on global grain prices," and urged that "safe navigation throughout the Black Sea and the protection of ports and related civilian infrastructure must be assured so the food exports can reach global markets predictably and efficiently."
The briefing emphasized the conflict's effects on children and vulnerable groups. The speaker said more than 600 Ukrainian children "have now been killed" since the escalation of the armed conflict and described severe disruptions to education and protection services. (The transcript contains an unclear numeric phrase regarding injured children and the total hours children spent in shelters; those specific numerals are flagged in the sourcing as unclear and are not presented as precise figures in this article.) The speaker said roughly 1,000,000 children are among close to 4,000,000 internally displaced people and that children make up a significant portion of the approximately 6,500,000 Ukrainian refugees recorded globally.
On humanitarian needs and funding, the speaker said more than 14,600,000 people—about 40% of the population—require some form of humanitarian assistance. Donors have provided $856,000,000, described in the briefing as roughly 27% of the $3.1 billion required under the 2024 humanitarian needs and response plan. The speaker said nearly 500 humanitarian organizations—around 70% national, including local women-led organizations—have reached more than 4,000,000 people in the first four months of the year, but stressed that access constraints remain: the speaker said some 1,500,000 civilians in areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia under occupation currently lack humanitarian access.
The speaker repeatedly called for "rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to all civilians in need in accordance with the requirements of international humanitarian law" and urged full funding of the humanitarian response plan "to sustain operations" and prepare for another winter dominated by war. The speaker welcomed the Ukraine recovery conference in Berlin as an opportunity for donors, partners and the UN to advance recovery priorities and leverage financing for critical development in affected parts of the country.
The briefing concluded with an appeal to the Security Council and member states to "do everything within their power to ensure respect for the rules of war, pursue peace, and bring the suffering of the Ukrainian people to an end."
