Humanitarian Impact of Recent Attacks: Critical Services across Ukraine – Flash Update #3
HIGHTLIGHTS
Strikes from 23 to 25 March continued to impact civilians and critical energy infrastructure, including in the east and south of Ukraine.
Access to electricity and other vital services and supplies remains limited for hundreds of thousands of people in Kharkiv and Odesa.
Civilians are leaving front-line and border areas in the north-east and east, which are seeing increased and continued hostilities.
Aid workers are mobilizing emergency response in the affected areas and assessing long-term assistance.
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION
Over the last three days, strikes continued to affect energy infrastructure across Ukraine. The cumulative impact disrupted access to electricity, heating and water in large urban centres in the east, centre and south of the country. Dozens of civilians were reportedly injured and killed, and homes, schools and other civilian facilities were impacted, as Kyivska, Mykolaivska, Odeska and other oblasts were hit again.
Impact on civilians and critical energy infrastructure
From 23 to 25 March 2024, continued strikes damaged houses and civilian infrastructure in several parts of the country, resulting in new civilian casualties. In Kyiv, 11 residents were reportedly injured, according to the city administration, and the premises of an art academy were damaged while students were not hurt. The oblast administration reported 11 civilians injured in Mykolaiv and 10 more, including a child, in Odesa.
Ukrainian authorities reported new damage to energy facilities in Mykolaivska and Odeska oblasts, disrupting access to basic services for hundreds of thousands of people. Power supply in Ukraine's second and third largest cities – Kharkiv in the east and Odesa in the south – as well as Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovska oblast, remains limited for over 2 million people, according to the national power company Ukrenergo and humanitarians on the ground.
The residents of Kharkiv City have been most severely affected as critical substations and local power generating plants were reportedly damaged, impacting their access to electricity and subsequent services. The city suffered several strikes during the last few days, exacerbating the humanitarian impact of previous attacks. The local administration announced that centralized heating services would end earlier than planned to reduce the load on infrastructure and ensure hot water provision for residents. Municipal services are working to restore power and other services. While the Kharkiv metro resumed operations, the tram and trolleybus public service have not yet resumed. The Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster also noted that while electricity and gas in collective centres have been restored, the services are available only for six hours per day, and collective centres need fuel for generators. The authorities expect that the impact of the recent attacks in Kharkiv will last for months.
In Zaporizka Oblast, where the Dnipro Hydraulic Power Plant (Dnipro HPP) was impacted by strikes on 22 March, a preliminary assessment estimates that replacing the damaged critical equipment may take up to two years. This will have prolonged implications for people and their access to critical services. According to the plant's operator, UkrHydroEnergo, the plant will be out of service even longer.
In Odeska Oblast, the regional electricity company announced scheduled power outages and requested customers to limit the use of energy-intensive facilities during peak-load hours.
Displacement
Hostilities also damaged houses and a collective centre for internally displaced people in Myrnohrad Town, Donetska Oblast. Due to increased hostilities, residents are leaving the oblast for safer areas in Rivnenska oblast in western Ukraine. The Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster partners, in coordination with local authorities, have been assessing the needs of people and capacities of collective centres in hosting communities.
Government-led evacuation of civilians, including mandatory evacuation of children with at least one parent/caretaker, continues in Sumska Oblast, north-eastern Ukraine, from areas within five kilometres of the border with the Russian Federation. Protection Cluster partners noted that an increased number of people leaving high-risk areas of Sumska Oblast has led to rising costs in rental accommodation within the oblast. At the same time, due to the significant level of destruction in border hromadas, displaced people need longer-term solutions.
HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE
After recent attacks in the capital city, Kyiv, as well as Kharkivska, Mykolaivska, Sumska and Odeska oblasts, aid workers responded at the sites of attacks, complementing the efforts of rescue and municipal services and provided immediate psychological and legal assistance, repair materials, food and other supplies and services. Humanitarians also assist people fleeing from the east and north-east of Ukraine, addressing the immediate and assessing longer-term needs of displaced people.
Response to the impact of strikes on civilians and critical civilian infrastructure
Health Cluster partners continued to mobilize emergency assistance to affected people following recent strikes. On 25 March, in Kyiv, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) deployed an emergency response team, establishing a mobile station to provide first aid to those affected. In Mykolaiv, on 25 March, URCS deployed emergency teams on-site, provided affected people with mental health and psychosocial support, and conducted an emergency evacuation to Mykolaiv Hospital.
Shelter/Non-Food Items Cluster partners provided emergency shelter materials to 20 families and initiated a detailed assessment for further repairs after an attack in Mykolaiv on 25 March. As an immediate response to attacks in Odesa, The Tenth of April NGO and URCS distributed emergency repair materials. In Sumska Oblast, Proliska provided emergency repair materials to some 90 affected families. Cluster partners assisted nearly 500 families with repair materials, including tarpaulin, and essential supplies in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Dnipropetrovska, Donetska, Kharkivska, Sumska and Zaporizka oblasts in the last five days. Following a missile attack in Kyiv on 25 March, Cluster partners delivered shelter materials to the impacted people to cover damage sustained by an educational institution.
Protection Cluster partners deployed psychological support teams in the immediate aftermath of the attacks in Kyiv City, Donetska, Kharkivska, Mykolaivska, Odeska, Sumska and other oblasts. They also continued supporting people affected by the previous attacks on 22 March in Khmelnytska, Rivnenska, Ternopilska, Sumska and Zaporizka oblasts with legal assistance, counselling and psychological help.
In Odeska Oblast, Child Protection partners, including the International Rescue Committee, Road to the Future, Right to Protection and Zaporuka, provided mental health, psychosocial support and first aid through mobile teams for children and caregivers. In Bilgorod-Dnistrovkiy Raion, Caritas operates Safe Spaces in schools with a capacity to support 3,000 children daily. Local partners, including Proliska, Caritas, Posmishka UA, Right to Protection, 100 Per Cent Life, URCS, Beluga UA, Sunshine UA, Global Empowerment Mission and Artak, continued to provide assistance to people impacted by earlier massive attacks in Zaporizhzhia through a dedicated child protection hotline and on-site immediate psychological assistance to children and their families.
Humanitarian partners of the Food Security and Livelihoods Cluster and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, together with Ukrainian Railways, set up a “train kitchen” in Kharkiv, delivering over 5,000 meals to collective centres, hospitals and shelters in coordination with the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster partners. Local volunteer organizations complemented this initiative with another 5,000 meals for the city's most vulnerable residents. The “train kitchen” works autonomously using power generators for two weeks at a capacity to produce 10,000 meals daily. Aid organizations also coordinate support to people living in collective centres amid rising humanitarian needs due to attacks. In Myrnohrad, Donetska Oblast, humanitarians repaired windows of a collective centre damaged in an attack over the weekend.
Support for newly displaced people
Humanitarian partners, including the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNHCR, ACTED and Rokada, provided transportation support to families evacuated from Sumska to Chernivetska Oblast and registered them for cash assistance.
In Sumska Oblast, Proliska facilitated medical transportation for people from border areas accompanied by a dedicated medical team. In Okhtyrka Town, two collective centres were set up to accommodate people arriving from border hromadas. Some 400 families relocated within the oblast received other essential supplies from IOM, while the Information and Analysis Centre of the International Service for Human Rights (IAC ISHR) supported people relocated in Seredyno-Budska Hromada. Protection Cluster partners also provided psychosocial support, counselling and social accompaniment to assist people with disabilities.
Humanitarian partners, complementing the efforts of the Government, provide assistance to people arriving in Rivne and Rivnenska Oblast from Donetska Oblast by special evacuation trains that were launched on 24 March. CCCM Cluster partners coordinated the accommodation of people in five collective centres and liaised with other humanitarian actors to address their basic needs, including essential household and personal items provided by IOM and UNHCR, and psychological assistance by KrymSOS, Prostir of Integration, Right to Protection, Rokada and the URCS. Cash Working Group partner Right to Protection began registration of arriving families to receive multi-purpose cash assistance.
Partners continue to assess the needs caused by recent waves of hostilities and subsequent displacement to provide further support.
NOTE: This Flash Update is based on current response information but could be amended as the situation evolves.