UN warns of difficulties that may await Ukrainians in winter

According to Ukrinform, when visiting Irpin and Bucha in the Kyiv region on Thursday, Filippo Grandi noted that winters in Ukraine are “very harsh and severe, extremely cold”.

“So, we must do everything possible to prevent the cold of winter from becoming the next challenge for people that already have to face so much in their lives,” the High Commissioner said.

While acknowledging the major challenges facing the people inside Ukraine, Grandi also highlighted the anxiety of separation felt by so many people, “of being in exile, either in the country itself and …as refugees abroad”.

At the same time, the High Commissioner noted that after meeting and talking to some of those affected by the war, he had seen “lots of strength, resilience and determination to carry on, to recover, to rebuild” damaged and destroyed building “to make it habitable again.”

Since the Russian invasion started on 24 February, more than 11.5 million people have had to flee their homes in Ukraine, and some 6.3 million are internally displaced.

According to the UN humanitarian coordination office in Ukraine, OCHA, 15.7 million people in Ukraine have been affected by the war.

OCHA’s latest update on the war indicated that 60% of people forced to leave their homes have been displaced from the east, 15% from the north, 11% from the south and another 11% from the capital.

The Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Poltava regions and the city of Kyiv continue to host most displaced people.

iy