Nearly 40% of population in Ukraine needs humanitarian assistance - UN

UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Matthias Schmale said this at a press briefing on Friday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

“As we are not only approaching winter but also the sad 1,000-day mark since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion in 2022, we are of course thinking of the more than 12,000 people who have been killed. And almost 40% of the population in Ukraine needs humanitarian assistance,” he said

To date, civilian infrastructure has been decimated with over 2,000 attacks now on healthcare facilities and two million damaged homes, the UN Resident Coordinator in Ukraine stressed. But there is also “a sort of hidden crisis,” Schmale noted. The prolonged war has led to widespread trauma and psychological distress among the Ukrainian population.

Schmale also noted that thanks to the $1.8 billion received from the international community for humanitarian response, the UN, together with national and international partners, non-governmental and volunteer organizations, has provided at least one type of humanitarian assistance to 7.2 million people this year. However, the winter response plan requires about $500 million, of which half has been already received.

As Ukrinform reported, humanitarian organizations provided at least one type of assistance to 7.2 million Ukrainians in January-September 2024.