Weekly Update #136
October 7, 2024

Source: OCHA

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Cost of Living Assessment: Adaptation Strategies & Social Interventions in the Communities of Kharkivska Oblast - September 2024

The invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has led to infrastructural damage, outmigration and disruption of economic activities in Chuhuivska and Novopokrovska hromadas, causing job losses and prompting further dependence on social protection mechanisms. Yet, the existing support remains inadequate to fully address the financial needs of affected populations, particularly in rural areas

Many households faced difficulties accessing Multi-purpose Cash Assistance and other social protection benefits due to stringent eligibility criteria and bureaucratic barriers. This has left significant gaps in support, particularly for the elderly, unemployed individuals and low-income families, exacerbating their economic vulnerability.

The rise in prices of essential items has been identified as the main factor driving the adoption of Livelihood Coping Strategies, such as reducing consumption and seeking informal work. Health expenses were a burden for households, especially vulnerable groups, who often avoid them or use LCS to cover the rising costs of medicines and procedures.

Local Authorities expected a further increase in demand for support, amidst a worsening security situation and stagnating employment rates, including greater psychological support, increased social protection payments, and improved local service delivery to address both immediate and long-term impacts of the ongoing conflict. Nonetheless, they were constrained by limited financial resources and workforce.

Source: NCR

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Damage impact analysis Kharkiv City, Kharkivska Oblast - Addressing infrastructure damage and services disruptions ahead of the winter

REACH Initiatives produced a report assessing the extent, severity, and socio-economic impacts of conflict-related damage to the built environment on population and basic services in Kharkiv City, as of July 2024, based on  key informant interviews, focus group discussions and a review of secondary data.

Key Findings

1. There is city-wide building damage. The most intensely impacted districts were northern Kyivskyi and Saltivskyi, and southern Industrialnyi. There is also intense damage along the ringroad and near trainlines.

2. Electricity is the most affected utility, with widespread disruptions across all districts, significantly impacting daily life. Although other services faced varying degrees of disruption, utility outages were reported throughout the city.

3. After a sharp decline early in the invasion, Kharkiv’s population has partially rebounded, with heavily damaged districts like Saltivskyi experiencing the highest growth. Research participants expect the population to remain stable over the next six months, though concerns about safety and reliable utilities—especially during winter—could prompt further displacement.

4. Vulnerable groups, especially in areas with unstable utilities and safety concerns, are more likely to consider displacement in the next six months. Families with children, the elderly, and those in districts with unexploded ordnance are at higher risk, as access to housing, utilities, and financial support strongly influences their decision to stay or relocate.

5. The availability of housing and essential utilities are critical factors influencing population movement in the next six months. Housing is the strongest pull factor (70%), while 58% of respondents identified utility disruptions as a primary push factor. Additionally, reliable access to utilities (36%) encourages people to stay or relocate, reflecting the overall importance of stability in infrastructure for population retention.

6. As Kharkiv prepares for winter, respondents prioritized cash assistance for heating (40%), followed by support with replacing windows (23%) and insulation (17%). Vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and low-income households, are especially reliant on financial support. While some buildings are prepared, improved insulation and heating are critical for ensuring comfort and safety during the winter months, when daily high temperatures may remain below 0 degrees C.

Source: REACH

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NGOs deeply concerned by the intensification of bombardments on civilian infrastructure

Local and international NGOs released a statement condemning the increasingly fatal attacks on civilian communities. Their recent statement lists the significant events that have occurred from July to September 2024

Thirty-one months into the Russian-Ukrainian war, civilian cost continues to rise. The latest ground offensives in the Donetsk oblast by the Russian Armed Forces, and in the Kursk oblast by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, have been coupled with an intensification of air attacks. Since July 2024, where at least 950 incidents involving explosive weapons were already recorded in Ukraine for the start of 2024, the trend of intensified shelling in populated areas has been confirmed. In July solely, 339 incidents were recorded in Ukraine according to the Explosive Weapons Monitor, which made this month the deadliest since October 2022, with at least 1.237 civilian casualties – 219 killed and 1.018 injured. Similarly, critical civilian infrastructure such as energy facilities located in cities outskirts were also heavily destroyed over the past nine months, becoming a ‘daily destructive pattern, according to the UN. 

Following a first statement released early July, we, once again, chose to highlight 20 significant incidents that occurred over the period running from July to September 2024, indicating that the massive use of explosive weapons over towns and villages continued to excessively claim civilian lives. 

July 2024 

• On 3 July, the city of Dnipro was struck with missiles and loitering munitions, causing the death of 5 civilians and injuring 49 others. 

• On 5 July, the city of Selydove in Donetsk oblast was attacked resulting in the death of 5 civilians and injuring 15 others. 

• On 8 July, multiple populated locations in Dnipro City, Kyiv City and Kryvyi Rih were attacked killing at least 42 c ivilians and wounding at least 190. The Okhmatdy Children’s Hospital in Kyiv City was struck, shattering its toxicology department and damaging the nearby Center for Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery. 

• On 13 July, a railway infrastructure in Budy, Kharkiv oblast, was hit killing 2 civilians and injuring 25. 

• On 19 July, a playground and high-rise buildings in the city of Mykolaiv were damaged by a missile, claiming 4 civilian lives, including a child, and injuring 14 others. 

August 2024 

• Since 6 August, and the start of the Ukrainian army ground incursion into the oblast of Kursk, at least 12 people were killed and 121 other injured, according to Russian authorities.

• On 9 August, the ‘Ekomarket’ supermarket in Kostyantynivk was hit, killing 14 civilians and injuring 44 others. 

• On 24 August, the Sapphire hotel in Kramatorsk was hit, killing one British journalist and injuring 6 other civilians. 

• On 26 August, multiple populated areas were attacked with 236 missiles and drones, marking the largest air attack on Ukraine since February 2022. At least 8 people were killed and over 23 wounded. 

• On 30 August, the city of Kharkiv was struck with five guided-aerial bombs, resulting in the death of 8 civilians and over 100 civilians injured. 

September 2024 

• On 1 September, a shopping mall and the Palace of Sport were hit with missiles in Kharkiv, resulting in at least 47 people injured, including 5 children. 

• On 2 September, a hotel in Zaporizhzhia was shelled, resulting in the death of 2 people and injuring 4 others. At the same moment, a kindergarten, seven private houses and an enterprise were hit by missiles in Dnipro, injuring 6 people. 

• On 3 September, a hospital in Poltava was struck by two ballistic missiles, killing at least 50 people and wounding 270 others. 

• On 4 September, the city of Lviv was massively attacked with missiles and drones, damaging residential buildings, killing at least 7 people – including 2 children – and injuring 64. 

• On 10 September, a high-rise residential building was damaged in the town of Ramenskoye located in the Moscow region, following a large drones attack that killed at least one woman.

• On 12 September, a humanitarian convoy from the ICRC was hit in the Donetsk region, killing 3 aid workers and injuring 2 others. 

• On 15 September, a high-rise residential building was hit in the city of Kharkiv with several aerial-guided bombs that caused the death of one person and injured at least 40 others, including children. 

• On 21 September, the city centre of Kryvyi Rih was hit by missiles, killing a 12-year-old boy and 2 elderly women, and wounding 3 others. On 28 September, a hospital in Sumy was hit by two consecutive attacks 45 minutes apart, killing at least 10 people during the evacuation of the hospital’ patients

• Beyond the appalling civilian’s death toll, these massive attacks over towns and_villages also have major reverberating humanitarian consequences, triggering compounded multisectoral needs among the population – _in shelter, health, rehabilitation, protection, mental health support or cash assistance – _and causing lasting risks of injuries to the population, due to the tremendous number of explosive remnants of war littering the Ukrainian territory. 

We, once again, collectively condemn these attacks which cause harm to civilians and relentlessly flout international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL). This includes violation of the principles of distinction, proportionality, and feasible precautions, the use of indiscriminate attacks, the use of internationally prohibited weapons, such as landmines and cluster munitions, the attacks on civilians and civilian objects, including health facilities and other critical civilian infrastructure, and attacks against medical and humanitarian workers. Humanitarian access in Ukraine is also increasingly denied due to the use of explosive weapons, in disregard of the commitment 4.4 of the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, that compels to facilitate e ‘rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access’.

We, once again, call upon governments to urgently endorse and implement this Political Declaration and all its commitments.

Signed by:

 Children New Generation

 Humanity & Inclusion - Handicap International

 Helvetas

 International charitable Foundation “Friends’ Hands”

 Паросток (Parostok)

 Médecins du Monde France (MDM-F)

 Mines Advisory Group (MAG)

 The Tenth of Triangle Génération Humanitaire (TGH) 

 Turbota pro Litnih v Ukraini (TLU April (TTA)

 War Child Alliance

 Women’s Center Support, Protection and Care

Sources: Helvetas, HIMAG, 3 more

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Protection Monitoring Report IRC Poland Q2 (April - June 2024)

As of the end of June 2024,there are approximately 6 021 400 refugees from Ukraine in Europe. Around 80% of refugees consist of women and children. There are currently about 957 000 refugees registered in Poland.

This report presents an analysis of the current situation of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, focusing on their most urgent needs and key challenges.

In this cycle, the IRC Protection Monitoring Team conducted 437 surveys with refugees over the age of 18. Additionally, as part of the qualitative research component, 14 expert interviews (KIIs) were conducted. The monitoring was carried out in three cities: Warsaw, Katowice, and Gdynia.

The period from April to June was marked by many changes in legislation and the availability of services for Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Particularly important changes concerned the availability of housing, and upcoming changes in the education system.

This quarter has seen several significant legislative changes  impacting  both  refugees  and  the  host community. These include:

• New standards for the protection of children, referred to as the "Kamilek Act"

• Prolonging Temporary Protection and Simplifying Temporary Residency Procedures

• Changes to the Special Act concerning Ukrainians under temporary protection in Poland

The IRC identifies protection risks related to accommodation, restrained access to basic services, and the specific vulnerabilities of mothers with children with disabilities, as well as children and teenagers particularly at risk. Additionally, risks related to labour exploitation and mental health are highlighted.

Among the most urgent needs remain accommodation, employment and material assistance. Importantly, in the context of the next three months, refugees identified significant concerns about meeting their basic needs, such as food and housing. Over 50% expressed fears that they would not be able to secure these essentials.

Protection risks in Q2 2024:

• Protection Risk 1: Risk of eviction and homelessness

• Protection Risk 2: Risk of restrained access to basic services and assistance

• People at risk: mothers with children with disabilities

• People at risk: children and teenagers

Recommendations

The Report identifies a comprehensive set of recommendations.  For the Humanitarian Sector, the following are offered:

1. Support programs for refugees that facilitate access to dignified employment opportunities, matching their  skills  and qualifications. Provide  language training, job placement services, and certification recognition to help refugees enter the workforce in their fields of expertise.

2. Implement targeted support programs  for the most vulnerable groups among refugees, such as single mothers, the elderly, people with disabilities, and those living in rural areas.

3. Promote the social inclusion of refugees through community integration programs, such as mentorship.

4. Develop specific programs to support refugees living in rural areas where access to services and employment opportunities may be limited. This could include mobile  health  and  social  services, transportation assistance.

5. Conduct targeted monitoring/research with the older refugee populations to develop long-term solutions, considering their limited employment potential.

Source: Rescue.org

Volunteers dying as Russia’s war dead tops 70,000

More than 70,000 people fighting in Russia’s military have now died in Ukraine, according to data analysed by the BBC.

And for the first time, volunteers - civilians who joined the armed forces after the start of the war - now make up the highest number of people killed on the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Every day, the names of those killed in Ukraine, their obituaries and photographs from their funerals are published across Russia in the media and on social networks.

BBC Russian and the independent website Mediazona have collated these names, along with names from other open sources, including official reports.

New graves in cemeteries have also helped provide the names of soldiers killed in Ukraine - these are usually marked by flags and wreaths sent by the defence ministry.

We have identified the names of 70,112 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, but the actual number is believed to be considerably higher. Some families do not share details of their relatives’ deaths publicly - and our analysis does not include names we were unable to check, or the deaths of militia in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

Among them, 13,781 were volunteers - about 20% - and fatalities among volunteers now exceed other categories. Former prisoners, who joined up in return for pardons for their crimes, were previously the highest but they now account for 19% of all confirmed deaths. Mobilised soldiers - citizens called up to fight - account for 13%.

Since October last year, weekly fatalities of volunteers have not dipped below 100 - and, in some weeks, we have recorded more than 310 volunteer deaths.

As for Ukraine - it rarely comments on the scale of its deaths on the battlefield. In February, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, but estimates based on US intelligence suggest greater losses.

According to the data we analysed, most of the men signing up come from small towns in parts of Russia where stable, well-paid work is hard to find. Most appear to have joined up willingly, although some in the republic of Chechnya have told human rights activists and lawyers of coercion and threats.

Some of the volunteers have said they did not understand the contracts they were signing had no end date, and have since approached pro-Kremlin journalists to, unsuccessfully, ask them for help ending their service. Salaries in the military can be five to seven times higher than average wages in less affluent parts of the country, plus soldiers get social benefits, including free childcare and tax breaks. One-off payments for people who sign up have also repeatedly risen in value in many parts of Russia.

Most of the volunteers dying at the front are aged between 42 and 50. They number 4,100 men in our list of more than 13,000 volunteers. The oldest volunteer killed was 71 years old - a total of 250 volunteers above the age of 60 have died in the war.

Soldiers have told the BBC that rising casualties among volunteers are, in part, down to their deployment to the most operationally challenging areas on the front line, notably in the Donetsk region in the east, where they form the backbone of reinforcements for depleted units, Russian soldiers told the BBC.

Russia’s “meat grinder” strategy continues unabated, according to Russian soldiers we have spoken to. The term has been used to describe the way Moscow sends waves of soldiers forward relentlessly to try to wear down Ukrainian forces and expose their locations to Russian artillery. Drone footage shared online shows Russian forces attacking Ukrainian positions with little or no equipment or support from artillery or military vehicles.

Sometimes, hundreds of men have been killed on a single day. In recent weeks, the Russian military have made desperate, but unsuccessful, attempts to seize the eastern Ukrainian towns of Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk with such tactics.

A small number of the volunteers killed have been from other countries. We have identified the names of 272 such men, many of whom were from Central Asia - 47 from Uzbekistan, 51 from Tajikistan, and 26 from Kyrgyzstan.

Last year saw reports of Russia recruiting people recruited in Cuba, Iraq, Yemen and Serbia. Foreigners already living in Russia without valid work permits or visas, who agree to “work for the state”, are promised they will not be deported and are offered a simplified route to citizenship if they survive the war. Many have later complained that they did not understand the paperwork - as with Russian citizens, they have turned to the media for help.

The governments of India and Nepal have called on Moscow to stop sending their citizens to Ukraine and repatriate the bodies of the dead. So far, the calls have not been acted upon.

Many new recruits who have joined the military have criticised the training they have received. A man who signed a contract with the Russian army in November last year told the BBC he had been promised two weeks of training at a shooting range before deployment to the front.

Source: BBC

NATO’s new chief makes Ukraine support a top priority and says he will work with any US president

The new head of NATO vowed on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for war-ravaged Ukraine and expressed confidence that he can work with whoever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November.

“There can be no lasting security in Europe without a strong, independent Ukraine,” new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in his first speech on taking office, and he affirmed a commitment made by the organization’s leaders in 2008 that “Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces are making advances in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s army has a shaky hold on part of the Kursk region in Russia, which has provided a temporary morale boost, but as casualties mount it remains outmanned and outgunned.

“The cost of supporting Ukraine is far, far lower than the cost we would face if we allow Putin to get his way,” Rutte told reporters, a few hours after his predecessor Jens Stoltenberg handed the reins to him, along with a Viking gavel with which to chair future meetings.

But Ukraine’s NATO membership remains a distant prospect. Several member countries, led by the U.S. and Germany, believe that Ukraine should not join while it’s fighting a war. Rutte declined to speculate about what must happen before it can stand among NATO’s ranks.

Rutte did single out China, and particularly Beijing’s support for Putin. “China has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war in Ukraine. China cannot continue to fuel the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War without this impacting its interests and reputation,” he said.

NATO’s new top civilian official also underlined the importance of keeping the trans-Atlantic bond between the United States, Canada and Europe strong, with U.S. elections just a month away.

Asked whether the Netherlands, which has only just reached NATO’s spending of 2% of gross domestic product on its defense budget, has set a good example to other allies, Rutte shook his head and said “No. We should have done this earlier.”

Source: AP News

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Kosovo’s leader says Russia prevailing in Ukraine would threaten 25 years of peace in the Balkans

Kosovo’s prime minister said Thursday that the Balkan region has enjoyed the greatest degree of peace, freedom and democracy over the past 25 years but that this could be reversed if Russia prevails in Ukraine and encourages Serbian expansion.

Albin Kurti, who has served as Kosovo’s leader since 2021, said it was important for the West to stand united in support of Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Kurti argued that a stronger Russia would embolden Serbia — and that not only Kosovo but also Bosnia, Montenegro and “perhaps North Macedonia” would be endangered by what he described as Serbian expansionist ambitions.

The relationship between Kosovo and Serbia remains tense and the 13-year-long normalization talks facilitated by the European Union have failed to make progress, especially following a shootout in September last year between masked Serb gunmen and Kosovo police that left four people dead.

NATO-led peacekeepers have also increased their numbers along the Kosovo-Serbia border.

“These 25 years in this century, this has been a quarter of a century with the highest degree of peace, freedom and democracy in the Balkans,” Kurti said.

He spoke at Kosovo’s diplomatic mission in Warsaw, the Polish capital. The mission was opened after Poland and Kosovo established consular relations in 2022.

Asked what it would mean for Kosovo and the Balkans more broadly if Russia were to prevail in Ukraine, Kurti, said “with Serbia being a regional hegemon and Russian proxy, these 25 years of peace, freedom and democracy in the Balkans, unprecedented in our history, are at risk again.”

Serbian attempts to maintain dominance as the former Yugoslavia split up in the 1990s unleashed the most devastating wars in Europe since World War II — at least until Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine

Kosovo was a Serbian province until NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which left about 13,000 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out.

Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence and thousands of international peacekeepers are still in Kosovo to maintain peace with Serbia, which Kosovo seceded from in 2008.

Kurti visited Poland as the central European nation prepares to take over the rotating presidency of the 27-member European Union next January. One of his goals is for Kosovo to join the EU, but five of the EU’s members still do not even recognize Kosovo — Spain, Greece, Cyprus Romania and Slovakia.

Kosovo, where 90% of the 1.6 million population is Albanian, is holding parliamentary elections next February, a vote that is expected to be a test for Kurti, whose governing party won in a landslide in the 2021.

Source: AP News