Weekly Update #35
October 31
October 31
SITUATION OVERVIEW
This section presents the most up-to-date information on the Ukraine conflict. Key sources of these data are:
The UN Office of the Commission of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
The UNHCR data portal
The International Office of Migration (IOM)
Further details may be obtained from the provided links to their respective websites.
General Figures
Refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe
7,751,169
Last updated 25 Oct 2022
Refugees from Ukraine registered for Temporary Protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe
4,426,745
Last updated 25 Oct 2022
Border crossings from Ukraine (since 24 February 2022)
14,591,581
Last updated 25 Oct 2022
Border crossings to Ukraine (since 28 February 2022)
7,144,217
Last updated 25 Oct 2022
UKRAINE SITUATION (As of October 26)
Civilians have been killed and injured in ongoing fighting while attacks on infrastructure have left people without heat or water.
Declaration of “Martial law” in Donetska, Khersonska, Luhanska and Zaporizka oblasts creates concern over access and movements for civilians living in these areas.
The humanitarian community continues to scale up winterization assistance as the cold season approaches.
Humanitarian partners have delivered additional aid in retaken areas of Donetska, Kharkivska and Khersonska oblasts and in Dnipropetrovska oblast.
13.47 million people reached with humanitarian assistance and protection since February 2022.
After eight months of war, fighting continued in the east and south of Ukraine, while daily airstrikes took place across the country. On 17 October, one week after the intensification of missile attack in Kyiv and other cities, attacks on energy infrastructure cut off electricity for many residents and caused civilian casualties. Similar attacks across the country subjected most regions and millions of Ukrainians to disruptions in power and water supplies with at least one-third of the country’s energy infrastructure damaged, according to the Government estimates. Later on 22 October, another wave of attacks targeted energy facilities, including in the western Khmelnytska, Rivnenska and Volynska oblasts as well as central Kirovohradska oblast. Throughout the reporting period, and for weeks prior, the cities of Zaporizhzhia in Zaporizka oblast and Mykolaiv in the southern Mykolaivska oblast have been hit with daily airstrikes and shelling. Meanwhile, Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetska oblast has also come under increasingly regular fire. Officials have appealed to Ukrainians to conserve energy and have scheduled temporary power outages.
Sources: OCHA: Situation Report, 26 Oct 2022
Refugees from Ukraine across Europe
(As of October 20)
Internally Displaced Populations
The latest September 2022 edition of the report of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) presents detailed analysis of the ninth round of its General Population Survey taken during September.
Highlights include:
Following 214 days of war (as of 26 September 2022), the mean duration of displacement among returnees is 76 days. Those who returned to their homes in the East macro-region typically stayed in displacement the longest (avg. 94 days), while those returning to homes in the West of Ukraine stayed in displacement for the shortest amount of time (avg. 61 days).
As in earlier rounds, most returnees do not intend to leave their places of habitual residence again in the future. Of the 6 million returnees total, as of Sept. 26, only estimated 380,000 are considering to leave their homes again (6%). The share of returnees who plan to leave their homes again due to the war is highest in the East (11%) and the South (10%). In Kyiv, only two per cent of returnees intended to move again.
With a significant proportion of the population in Ukraine displaced from their homes or returned to war-affected areas, proactive and targeted humanitarian and recovery programming is required to mitigate the impact of colder weather and the onset of winter.
Core definitions:
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee, or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human‐made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.
Returnee is a person who had undergone a migratory movement and arrived back to their original place of habitual residence.
The 1951 Refugee Convention defines refugee as someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion
Civilian Casualties (As of October 23-26, 2022)
Civilians have continued to pay a high price from fighting, airstrikes and shelling. Most of the dozens of new civilian casualties reported over the past two weeks occurred in Donetska oblast, followed by Dnipropetrovska, Kharkivska and Zaporizka oblasts. HRMMU stresses that it believes the actual figures are much higher. Civilian casualties also involved energy-industry personnel injured during shelling – reportedly including at the Kurakhove Thermal Power Plant in Donetska oblast on 18 October – and as the result of landmine explosions, reportedly especially in the newly retaken areas of Kharkivska oblast.
From 24 February 2022, when the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine started, to 23 October 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 16,150 civilian casualties in the country: 6,374 killed and 9,776 injured.
This included:
a total of 6,374 killed (2,488 men, 1,700 women, 167 girls, and 201 boys, as well as 34 children and 1,784 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
a total of 9,776 injured (2,078 men, 1,494 women, 204 girls, and 289 boys, as well as 24 children and 5,469 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 8,899 casualties (3,788 killed and 5,111 injured)
On Government-controlled territory: 7,031 casualties (3,365 killed and 3,666 injured)
On territory controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups: 1,868 casualties (423 killed and 1,445 injured)
In other regions of Ukraine (the city of Kyiv, and Cherkasy, Chernihiv, IvanoFrankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava, Rivne, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Volyn, and Zhytomyr regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred: 7,251 casualties (2,586 killed and 4,665 injured)
Civilian casualties in Ukraine from 24 February to 23 October 2022 (individual cases verified by OHCHR), per month
IMPACT OF THE ESCALATION ON THE HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE
The current priorities for humanitarian partners in Ukraine include reaching people in need in areas where the Government of Ukraine recently regained control, especially in Kharkivska and Khersonska oblasts, and also to help the most vulnerable Ukrainians prepare for the winter amid electricity and water cuts.
In a 20 October media interview, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator spoke about trying to access people in need in areas beyond the control of the Ukrainian Government in the south and east – but not having yet received guarantees of safe access by the Russian Federation. She also stressed the ramping-up of winterization assistance across the country – including by helping communities repair heaters, fix damaged roofs and distribute mattresses, blankets and warm clothing as well as supplying hospitals with back-up generators and mobile heating kits.
The approaching winter remains a focus of the humanitarian response, with humanitarian organizations distributing generators to hospitals and some schools; providing repair support to collective centres and damaged homes; housing internally displaced people; stoves and fuel for households; cash to cover essential costs, and blankets and winter clothing for hard-hit communities.
The Ukrainian Government updated that, as of 20 October, 1 million displaced Ukrainians are currently staying in over 5,600 collective centre across the country – centres that requires support to be prepared for the winter months. Humanitarians partners, including UN agencies, international organizations (INGOs) ACTED, Caritas, Terre des Hommes Ukraine and World Central Kitchen as well as national NGOs such as Right to Protection, are focusing on repairs to these centres.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) issued a report on how “Winter must not be used as a weapon of war”. The European Union announced a winter-shelter program and an increase in humanitarian aid by €175 million (approximately US$175). Meanwhile, NGO Project HOPE announced the expansion of mobile medical units into eastern Ukraine as winter approaches
Health Challenges in Winter
Even as Ukraine marks 8 months of a brutal war, the health care system in Ukraine continues to function overall, but spiraling costs, logistical hurdles and damaged infrastructure are making access to essential services all the more challenging for growing numbers of civilians.
Partners’ winterization activities in the health sector include infection prevention and control; vaccination; risk communication and community engagement; strengthening disease surveillance, provision of additional medical supplies, and reinforcing referral mechanisms.
To ensure continuous access to care, partners are supporting health facilities with donation of generators and boilers, minor infrastructure repairs and rehabilitation so facilities can provide critical services. For instance, UNICEF delivered 14 generators to Kharkivska oblast to ensure water and health services continue for its ongoing support to provision of safe water in eastern Ukraine. These generators can provide a back-up power-supply for an uninterrupted water and heating supply for more than 500,000 people.
In anticipation of the serious problems Ukraine is likely to face during the upcoming winter, on 20 October the European Union pledged humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations in three of Ukraine’s regions As part of the assistance, 175 million will be donated in the form of emergency shelters, food, access to drinking water and education, as stated by Janez Lenarčič European Commissioner for Crisis Management, during a visit to Ukraine.
Due to sustained shelling by Russian forces, national power company Ukrenergo had to impose scheduled power outages As medical facilities are also under threat of power outages, the relevant ministry introduced regulations that require medical institutions to have autonomous generators.
Almost 400 generators were delivered to Ukraine as part of humanitarian aid and distributed to frontline medical facilities, the newly retaken territories, and hospitals that receive the largest number of patients Health care facilities can also purchase generators independently this applies to profitable hospitals able to cover these purchases with funds from the National Health Service The MoH will purchase another 1126 generators for medical institutions that do not have the funds to purchase alternative power sources.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care, attacks on health care facilities continue:
Shelter, Non-Food Items, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
As of 26 October, the Cluster had reached 1.8 million people, including 123,700 who received shelter support, 1.3 million people reached with critical household items, and over 254,500 people who received support with vital supplies or home repairs to face the harsh winter.
Up to 16 million people in Ukraine need water, sanitation and hygiene assistance. These include communities living in areas where water and waste-water infrastructure has been damaged; energy supply disrupted; as well as internally displaced people in collective centres and host communities.
As a consequence of the impact on services, there is an elevated risk of WASH-related diseases in affected areas. A limited number of partners with contingency supplies and/or funds for rapid interventions – notably generators, pipe fittings, household water-treatment means for recently retaken areas. More sustainable approaches need to be found for water-scarce settlements near the frontline and in retaken areas.
Suspension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative
Moscow suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative in a retaliatory move for what it says were Kyiv-ordered attacks on Russian vessels. The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a U.N.-backed deal brokered in July, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw the reopening of three key Ukrainian ports.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a United Nations-backed deal brokered in July, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw the reopening of three key Ukrainian ports. The first vessel left Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Aug. 1 carrying more than 26,000 metric tons of corn. Since then, nearly 400 ships carrying a total of 9 million metric tons have departed Ukraine’s ports. Nearly 400 ships carrying a total of 9 million metric tons have departed Ukraine’s ports. Of the 40 countries receiving Ukrainian foodstuffs from the initiative, Spain has accepted the majority of agricultural products totaling 1.8 million metric tons.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia was using the attack as a “false pretext” for blocking the “grain corridor which ensures food security for millions of people.”
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/29/russia-halts-participation-in-the-black-sea-grain-initiative.html
Financing the response
As of 26 October, humanitarian organizations in Ukraine received $2.92 billion, which is 68 per cent of the $4.29 billion requested in the 10-month Humanitarian Flash Appeal. Some 42 per cent of the funding received has come from the United States ($1.23 billion). Other significant contributors include the European Commission ($293.8 million), Germany ($197.6 million), the UK Disasters Emergency Committee ($133.8 million), Japan ($108.8 million) and Canada ($91 million). In addition, 482 private sector donors' business contributions to Ukraine's humanitarian response have reached over $1.6 billion.
HOLY FATHER ON UKRAINE
Angelus - 30 October 2022
Please, let us not forget martyred Ukraine in our prayer and in our heartache. Let us pray for peace, never tire of doing so!
Non dimentichiamo, per favore, nella nostra preghiera e nel nostro dolore del cuore, la martoriata Ucraina. Preghiamo per la pace, non ci stanchiamo di farlo!
Links to the full text in ITALIAN and ENGLISHGeneral Audience - 26 October 2022
E non dimentichiamo di pregare e continuare con la preghiera per la martoriata Ucraina: che il Signore protegga quella gente e ci porti tutti sulla strada di una pace duratura.
Links to the full text in ITALIAN
As war plagues the world, Pope Francis and religious leaders make an adamant appeal for a universal ceasefire, as part of the Community of Sant’Egidio's prayer for peace to mark the closing of its 36th 'Spirit of Assisi' event at Rome's Colosseum.
In a conversation with seminarians and priests studying in Rome, Pope Francis addresses numerous topics: from the compassionate style of priests, called to be close to the people, to spiritual direction.
DISCORSO DEL SANTO PADRE FRANCESCO A SEMINARISTI E SACERDOTI CHE STUDIANO A ROMA
Aula Paolo VI, Lunedì, 24 ottobre 2022
Translation of the program speech by Fr. Thomas Schwartz, president of Renovabis, as part of the "Cry for Peace" international meeting of the Community of Sant'Egidio that took place in Rome on October 24, 2022.
CR4U MEMBERS
The plenary meeting of the CCEE was devoted to the situation in Ukraine and the synod (Google Translate)