Weekly Update #148
December 30 2024

REFUGEE SITUATION

REFUGEE SITUTION UPDATE

ROMANIA

THE HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

Humanitarian Situation Overview

STATUS OF THE CONFLICT

HOLY FATHER ON UKRAINE

Angelus - December 29, 2024

Angelus - December 26, 2024 (Feast of St. Stephen)

Urbi et Orbi - December 25, 2024 (Christmas Day)

NEWS

MEMBER PHOTOS

REFUGEE SITUATION

(as of 16 December 2024)

General Figures

Refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe

6,253,700

Last updated December 16 2024

Covers those granted refugee status, temporary asylum status, temporary protection, or statuses through similar national protection schemes, as well as those recorded in the country under other forms of stay

Refugees from Ukraine recorded beyond Europe

560,200

Last updated December 16 2024

Refugees from Ukraine recorded globally

6,813,900

Last updated December 16 2024

Estimated number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Ukraine (as of Aug 2024)

3,669,000

Source: UNHCR collation of statistics made available by the authorities

REFUGEE SITUTION UPDATE

ROMANIA

Key figures:

175,331 refugees obtained temporary protection in Romania (as of 31 October 2024)
17,395 refugees enrolled for cash assistance in 2024
23,986 refugees provided with protection counselling services and legal support since January 2024
9,286 refugees supported with livelihood and employment services since January 2024

Humanitarian Response and Advocacy

On 16 December, UNHCR participated in a workshop organized by its partner World Vision Romania as part of the Livelihood and Economic Inclusion Working Group. The event attended by 40 participants from public institutions and NGOs, awarded entrepreneurship grants (USD 6,000 each) to six refugees, five from Ukraine and one from Syria, to help establish or expand their businesses in Romania. The conference featured two panels: one on the opportunities and challenges of hiring refugees in Romania, and another on successful refugee-run businesses.

In 2024, UNHCR has enrolled over 17,000 vulnerable refugees from Ukraine, primarily women and children, in its 2024 cash assistance programmes. Since January, these families have been registered through five centres located in Bucharest, Constanța, Brașov, Galați, and Suceava, as well as through mobile missions across 13 counties in Romania. To date, UNHCR has provided cash assistance to a total of 15,454 vulnerable forcibly displaced refugees through its two cash programmes: Cash for Winterization and Cash for Refugees with Specific Needs. To avoid duplication of efforts, all recipients have been cross-checked with other organizations, including the Romanian Red Cross, Save the Children, and other UNHCR operations in neighbouring countries.

WHO Romania Data Insights November 2024

WHO cultural mediators directly supported 353 Ukrainians with accessing national healthcare services and delivered 199 individual psychosocial support sessions.
The WHO translation hotline provided 83 translations for medical consultations, including 7 emergency consultations. 56 Ukrainian women and 27 men aged from under-18 to +55 years benefited from the free-of-charge service.
WHO supported family doctors in Brasov, Bucharest, Cluj, Constanta, Galati, Sibiu and Suceava delivered 501 primary healthcare consultations to Ukrainian refugees including 33 essential vaccinations for Ukrainian children.
WHO county coordinators and cultural mediators conducted educational sessions on immunisation, healthy lifestyles, mental health and GBV and reached over 100,000 Ukrainians with online health promotion messages.
The AMI information hotline, supported by WHO Romania, provided health access information to 484 Ukrainian beneficiaries.

Sources: UNHCR

WHO

THE HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

Humanitarian Situation Overview

Escalating hostilities severely increased humanitarian needs along the front lines. Civilians still residing in front-line communities in Donetska, Kharkivska, Khersonska, Dnipropetrovska and Zaporizka oblasts are confronted with dire living conditions. These conditions are expected to deteriorate further as winter settles in.

Due to constant shelling and limited access to essential services, such as shops, pharmacies and banks, people close to the front line require shelter repairs, personal items, hygiene products, clean water and food.

Government-led evacuation mandates have expanded with the support of some national NGOs and humanitarian partners. Authorities in Donetska Oblast evacuated families with children from over 40 towns, significantly reducing Pokrovsk’s population from 70,000 to 16,000 due to escalating hostilities. In Sumska Oblast, increased strikes and attacks led to mandatory evacuation orders in more than 30 towns and villages. Evacuations also continued in Kharkivska and Khersonska oblasts.

The humanitarian situation worsened from August to September due to intensified attacks in the north-east, east and south, resulting in increased humanitarian needs near the front line.
Government-led evacuation mandates expanded with support from national NGOs and humanitarian partners.
In the first 10 months of 2024, over 630 humanitarian organizations provided at least one form of assistance to 7.7 million people across Ukraine, including those affected by attacks and newly displaced people.
As winter deepens and humanitarian needs increase, aid workers stepped up efforts to provide winter-related assistance to over 144,000 people under the 2024-2025 Winter Response Plan. The 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is currently 58 per cent funded out of the requested US$3.11 billion.

Situation Update

In November, with the cold season setting, the humanitarian needs of war-affected people were aggravated due to disruptions in basic services — electricity, heating and water supply — caused by resumed attacks on energy infrastructure. Continued hostilities and glide bomb attacks in populated areas destroyed more homes, leaving people in urgent need of shelter and winter-related support. The insecurity in front-line areas forced thousands of people, including families with children, to flee to safer parts of the country, increasing protection needs. At the same time, hundreds of thousands, many of whom are older people or people with limited mobility, stayed in front-line communities, often relying on aid to meet their basic needs.

In the 11 months of 2024, 8 million people across Ukraine received at least one form of humanitarian assistance from some 645 organizations under the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. As the temperatures continued to drop, in November, humanitarians scaled up shelter and non-food support, reaching 0.3 million people. They also increased food and livelihood assistance, reaching 0.2 million people. Additionally, humanitarians supported 0.2 million people with health care and 0.2 million people with water, sanitation and hygiene services. Aid workers also provided protection services to 0.2 million people and child protection services to 0.2 million children, including psychosocial support, and reached 0.1 million people with activities to address gender-based violence. Some 0.1 million people received multi-purpose cash assistance, allowing them to meet their basic needs in a flexible and dignified way. Mine risk education activities reached 0.1 million people. Of the total people reached, 4.8 million people were non-displaced war-affected people, 1.9 million internally displaced people, and 1.3 million who returned home after displacement.

In November, aid organizations continued to prioritize support for the front-line oblasts, assisting approximately 0.3 million people in Kharkivska and Dnipropetrovska oblasts, which also host the highest number of displaced people. By November, humanitarians nearly met or exceeded their intended plans to help people in front-line Donetska, Khersonska, Mykolaivska, Sumska and Zaporizka oblasts, despite access and security constraints. They also reached or exceeded their response targets in most oblasts in the west, centre and north of the country. Some 80 per cent of people planned to be reached received aid in Khmelnytska, Odeska, Ternopilska and Vinnytska oblasts, west and south, as new attacks disrupted basic services, leading to increased humanitarian needs.

Additionally, by November, nearly 364,000 people received winter-related assistance under the 2024-2025 Winter Response Plan, which is an increase of almost 220,000 people compared to October as the implementation of winter activities is picking up. Support for winter energy, non-food winter supplies and support for uninterrupted health care during the cold season were among the key types of assistance provided.

Between January and November, humanitarian actors also delivered 43 inter-agency convoys to assist nearly 73,000 people in front-line communities where humanitarian access is limited and the needs are most acute. In November alone, four convoys delivered food, medicines, repair materials, hygiene items and other essential supplies to heavily affected Donetska and Khersonska oblasts.

By the end of November, the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan was 62 per cent funded. However, the onset of winter added a new dimension to the response to the humanitarian crisis in the country, aggravating the humanitarian needs and increasing the need for further support.

During the first 10 months of 2024, more than 630 humanitarian organizations provided at least one form of assistance to 7.7 million people across. To meet growing needs, compared with the previous month, in October, aid workers scaled up their support with health care (0.4 million people reached), water, sanitation and hygiene services (0.3 million people) as well as child protection (0.3 million) and protection support (0.1 million). Some 0.15 million people were reached with multi-purpose cash assistance, and 0.1 million people were provided with materials for emergency repairs and non-food supplies to meet energy needs. Aid workers also reached some 0.1 million people with mine action support, primarily mine risk education.

Prioritizing the most affected areas, humanitarians surpassed the original plans for assistance in front-line Sumska, Mykolaivska, Kharkivska and Chernihivska oblasts in the north-east, south and east. Despite challenging security conditions, humanitarians in Zaporizka, Donetska and Khersonska oblasts adapted the response to meet increased needs throughout 2024. Further from the front line, aid organizations also exceeded the assistance planned in several oblasts in the north-west and south-west of the country, including support to newly displaced people in Ivano-Frankivska and Rivnenska oblasts.

Between January and October, humanitarian actors delivered 39 inter-agency convoys to assist nearly 64,000 people in front-line communities in Donetska, Kharkivska, Khersonska, Mykolaivska and Zaporizka oblasts, where humanitarian access is limited. In October alone, six convoys, three of which were delivered to Mykolaivska Oblast, provided food, clean water, medicines, repair materials, hygiene supplies and other essential assistance. With winter increasing humanitarian needs, aid workers provided winter-related assistance to over 144,000 people under the 2024-2025 Winter Response Plan. Older people and people with disabilities accounted for 33 per cent and nine per cent of the people reached with winter support, respectively.

Source: OCHA Snapshot, OCHA Situation Report

STATUS OF THE CONFLICT

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explicitly rejected two suggestions reportedly considered by US President-elect Donald Trump's team in early November 2024 as conditions for ending the war in Ukraine – the delay of Ukraine's membership in NATO for 20 years and the deployment of European peacekeepers in Ukraine. Lavrov stated in an interview with Kremlin newswire TASS published on December 29 that Russia is "not satisfied" with the Trump team's reported early November 2024 proposals to delay Ukraine's membership in NATO for 20 years and to station a European peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine. Lavrov is amplifying Russian President Vladimir Putin's December 26 explicit rejection of the Trump team’s reported suggestion to delay Ukraine's membership in NATO for 20 years. Lavrov stated that any agreements to end the war in Ukraine "must eliminate the root causes" of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and "must establish a mechanism to make it impossible to violate them." Lavrov claimed in an interview on December 26 that the two main "root causes" of the war are NATO's alleged violation of obligations to not advance eastward and "aggressive absorption" of areas near Russia's borders and the Ukrainian government's alleged discrimination against ethnic Russians and Russian language, media, and culture in Ukraine. Lavrov's statements are part of ongoing senior Russian officials' statements that the Kremlin refuses to consider any compromises on Putin's late 2021 and early 2022 demands. These demands include forcing Ukraine to become a permanently neutral state that will never join NATO, imposing severe limitations on the size of the Ukrainian military, and removing the Ukrainian government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin enshrined his alleged policy of Ukrainian "denazification" in a new state strategy document about countering extremism, demonstrating how Putin continues to make the same demands for the removal of the Ukrainian government that he made in 2022 when launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Putin signed on December 28 a new Strategy for Countering Extremism in Russia. Putin signed Russia's last iteration of such strategy in 2020. The 2024 strategy includes mentions of "Russophobia" for the first time, which the document defines as the "unfriendly, biased, and hostile" attitudes and "discriminatory actions" towards Russian citizens, language, and culture by states that are unfriendly to Russia. The 2024 document, unlike the 2020 version, also lists Ukraine as a main source of extremism and accuses Ukraine of disseminating neo-Nazi ideas. The documents states that Russia needs to "eliminate" the source of extremist threats that come from Ukraine. Putin claimed in February 2022 when he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Russia was pursuing the "denazification" of Ukraine – an attempt to justify the removal of the legitimate, democratically elected government of Ukraine. Putin has made similar statements recently reiterating his refusal to consider compromises on his late 2021 and early 2022 demands. The document's mentions of "Russophobia" and "discrimination" against Russian citizens, language, and culture also align with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's recent talking point that such alleged discrimination by the current Ukrainian authorities is a "root cause" of Russia's war against Ukraine that any future negotiations must address. The Kremlin will likely exploit this new strategy document to justify its calls for the removal of the Ukrainian government as "anti-extremist" measures.

The strategy document also included points that will resonate with the Russian pro-war ultranationalist community, likely as part of Kremlin efforts to placate and garner favor with this key constituency. The document claims that migrants in Russia are conducting illegal activities that are contributing to the spread of extremism in unspecified federal subjects in Russia. The document calls for Russia to tighten its migration policy, including by combatting "propaganda events" that take place in migrant residences. The document also calls for Russia to adjust educational programs in the South Caucasus and Central Asia to prevent the spread of Russophobia. The Russian ultranationalist milblogger community has repeatedly called for Russia to enact more stringent migration policies and has complained about "Russophobia" in former Soviet states such as Kazakhstan. ISW continues to assess that Putin must cater to his xenophobic and ultranationalist constituency – some of the staunchest supporters of Russia's war in Ukraine – while also balancing Russia's need for migrant labor for its economy and military.

Source: ISW

HOLY FATHER ON UKRAINE

Angelus - December 29, 2024

And let us also pray for the families who are suffering because of wars: in tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, Sudan, North Kivu: let us pray for all these families caught up in war.

E preghiamo anche per le famiglie che soffrono a causa delle guerre: nella martoriata Ucraina, in Palestina, in Israele, nel Myanmar, in Sudan, Nord Kivu, preghiamo per tutte queste famiglie in guerra.

Links to the full text in ENGLISH and ITALIAN

Angelus - December 26, 2024 (Feast of St. Stephen)

The question of debt is linked to that of peace and the “black market” of weapons. No more colonizing peoples with weapons! Let us work for disarmament, let us work against hunger, against disease, against child labour. And let us pray, please, for peace throughout the world! Peace in tormented Ukraine, in Gaza, Israel, Myanmar, North Kivu and in so many countries that are at war.

La questione del debito è legata a quella della pace e del “mercato nero” degli armamenti. Basta colonizzare i popoli con le armi! Lavoriamo per il disarmo, lavoriamo contro la fame, contro le malattie, contro il lavoro minorile. E preghiamo, per favore, per la pace nel mondo intero! La pace nella martoriata Ucraina, in Gaza, Israele, Myanmar, Nord Kivu e in tanti Paesi che sono in guerra.

Links to the full text in ENGLISH and ITALIAN

Urbi et Orbi - December 25, 2024 (Christmas Day)

May the sound of arms be silenced in war-torn Ukraine! May there be the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation and to gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.

Tacciano le armi nella martoriata Ucraina! Si abbia l’audacia di aprire la porta al negoziato e a gesti di dialogo e d’incontro, per arrivare a una pace giusta e duratura.

Links to the full text in ENGLISH and ITALIAN