Weekly Update #37
November 14

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

7,824,440

Last updated 8 Nov 2022


Refugees from Ukraine registered for Temporary Protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe

4,699,333

Last updated 8 Nov 2022


Border crossings from Ukraine (since 24 February 2022)

15,107,523

Last updated 8 Nov 2022


Border crossings to Ukraine (since 28 February 2022)

7,562,124

Last updated 8 Nov 2022

Source: https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine

CURRENT SITUATION

Changing conflict dynamics

Following explosions in early October on the Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects the Crimean Peninsula with Russian Federation territory, Russia has stepped up missile and drone attacks across Ukraine. Though power plants and other critical infrastructure have been targeted in some of the strikes, many of them hit unrelated facilities in urban centers—including schools and healthcare centers—leading to a large number of civilian casualties.

Given the damage to critical infrastructure, most of the country is suffering from power shortages and systematic blackouts, which not only impede the everyday life of citizens but—with winter weather already affecting the country—also pose a threat to health. With water supply critical to running the centralized heating system in Ukraine, power failures are hampering local and displaced people’s winter preparedness against the background of harsh weather conditions.

As of 20 October, 1 million displaced Ukrainians who were staying in over 5,600 collective centres need support for the winter months. The approaching winter remains a key focus of the humanitarian response with humanitarian organizations distributing winter supplies, helping repair collective centres, and providing cash to cover essential costs at institutional and household levels in hard-to-reach areas.

The fast-changing situation and wide-ranging attacks are fueling further displacement and intensifying needs of internally displaced populations. Western Ukraine’s main border crossing points have seen a 5 per cent increase in the number of people on the move between the first and second weeks of October.

Ukrainian forces have launched successful counter-offensive operations to retake territory in Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts. On November 11, the government regained Kherson. In some regained areas, Ukrainians have discovered mass burial sites and evidence of war crimes, with the Ukrainian Ministry of Reintegration reporting that the number of victims in Izium may exceed those of Bucha.

Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, expressed concerned over an increasing number of incidents involving mines and explosive ordnances – particularly in the recently regained Kharkiv region in the northeast. At least five incidents of mines detonating or explosions causing deaths or injuries occurred during the first two days of November, compared to four throughout the who second half of October. Moreover, accidents involving farmers trying to get back to their land following Russian withdrawal, are becoming progressively more common

Together, the UN and partners have reached more than 3 million people with critical information about the risk of mines, in addition to demining and services to support survivors.

Authorities report that more than 150,000 explosive devices have already been removed and destroyed since March 2022, but there are millions more. It is estimated that clearing landmines in Ukraine could take decades


Sources: OCHA Ukraine Crisis - Situation Report #23 (November 9, 2022)

Ukraine: UN and partners provide life-saving aid to some 13.5 million

https://www.unicef.org/topics/ukraine

INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS

Total Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)

6,540,000

Last updated 28 Oct 2022 Source - IOM

CIVILIAN CASULTIES

(As of November 7, 2022)

Total civilian casualties from 24 February to 6 November 2022

16,462 civilian casualties in Ukraine:

  • 6,490 killed -- 2,533 men, 1,731 women, 168 girls, and 201 boys, as well as 34 children and 1,823 adults whose sex is yet unknown

  • 9,972 injured -- 2,144 men, 1,541 women, 208 girls, and 295 boys, as well as 242 children and 5,542 adults whose sex is yet unknown

More than half of these casualties were in territory controlled by Russian armed forces.


Total civilian casualties from 1-31 October 2022

1,067 civilian casualties in Ukraine:

  • 284 killed -- 112 men, 56 women, 2 girls, 4 boys, as well as 110 adults whose sex is yet unknown; and

  • 783 injured -- 215 men, 136 women, 8 girls, 20 boys, as well as 18 children and 386 adults whose sex is yet unknown.


Source: OHCHR Civilian Casualties Report, November 7, 2022


IMPACT ON HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

HUMANITARIANS BRING WATER, FOOD, MEDICINES AND OTHER ESSENTIAL SUPPLIES FOR THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN KHERSON

On November 14, the United Nations, led by Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown, delivered supplies to help thousands of civilians in the city of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, less than 72 hours after the Government of Ukraine regained control of the city. This is the first time that aid workershave been able to enter Kherson with humanitarian aid since Russian forces took control of the city in the first weeks of the war in early March 2022. In recent weeks, life-saving items have already been delivered to more than 12,000 people in other towns and villages retaken by Ukraine in the Kherson region, including Novovorontsovka, Novooleksandrivka, Velyka Oleksandrivka and Vysokopillia.

The city faces a shortage of water and electricity, while markets are running low on food and health facilities lack medicines.

Today’s humanitarian convoy brought food, water, hygiene kits, shelter materials and critical household items, including bedding, thermal blankets and solar lamps, to more than 6,000 people in Kherson. A health centre in the city will also receive medicines to treat more than 1,000 patients over the next month.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) took part in today’s convoy.

So far this year in the Kherson region, humanitarian organizations have reached 100,000 people, most of them with cash assistance.


Intensified assistance to newly retaken areas

UN partners remain committed to communities that have just been recently liberated from Russian occupation. Conditions in these communities underscore the need to broaden the humanitarian reach.

  • On 26 October, a new agreement between the World Food Programme Ukraine and the Ministry of Reintegration committed to provide support to internally displaced people with low-mobility from conflict-affected regions including elderly people, people with disability, and people with chronic illness.

  • Large tranches of food commodities are continuously distributed to thousands of people living in newly accessible areas of Kherson, Donestk and Kharikiv oblasts. Inter-agency convoys have delivered 144 mt of essential items related to nutrition, medicine, WASH and shelter to these communities.

  • Essential non-food items, such as generators and housing/shelter materials, were distributed to households in Kherson and Chernihiv oblasts.

  • In Kalyta, IOM is supporting IDPs and other affected people whose houses were damaged or destroyed by providing them with modern water treatment filters to alleviate risks of diseases associated with unsafe drinking water.

  • As the war continues to devastate the lives of Ukrainians, UNICEF has partnered with the Ministry of Social Policy to support social workers across the country. only about 3,260 social workers are left in Ukraine to support the ever-increasing caseloads of children and families who need more help than ever because of this war. UNICEF has purchased 5,000 tablets for social workers and children's services specialists to facilitate their work.

PRIORITIES IN THE HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

Due to the escalation of the Russian attacks, the destruction of selected regions of the has become worse, and largely populated urban areas are experiencing continued disruptions that now include Kyiv, Dnipro, Kherson, and Odesa. Consequently, the humanitarian response has been expanded to address the needs of a larger number of refugees and displaced populations. A Flash Appeal was sent out to cover this new scope.

SCOPE OF THE NEED

6.24 million Internally Displaced People in Ukraine

17.7 million People with urgent need for humanitarian assistance and protection

11.5 million People targeted for humanitarian assistance in the Ukraine Flash Appeal.

The Ukraine 2022 Flash Appeal is estimated to total $ 4.29 billion, of which $ 3.03 billion have been raised.

The top 20 donors to the Flash Appeal are:

The changing dynamics of the conflict have compelled the humanitarian response to adjust priorities in the humanitarian response, which is now focused in the immediate term on delivering an effective Winterization Plan, amounting to $226 million.


Highlights of the Winterization Plan

Areas of intervention

The winterization plan focuses on two broad areas of intervention:

  • Provision of winterised core relief items, including thermal blankets, winter clothing, heating appliances, and solid fuel

  • Winterization repairs to collective centres providing shelter for IDPs; insulation and repairs for damaged homes in isolated rural areas and repairs for livestock shelters to ensure livelihood survival over the winter months


Priority populations

The Plan prioritizes those communities most in need of immediate assistance given their current and likely situation going into winter. Winterization activities for this plan will be prioritised in:

(a) western and central oblasts: areas with high concentrations of collective centres

(b) central and eastern oblasts: areas of return; isolated locations, with difficult access to services and markets; and individual damaged houses.

People in remote and rural areas: In terms of housing and geographic vulnerability, many displaced and non-displaced people reside in substandard rural dwellings or damaged homes, predominantly in the east and central regions, where living costs are lower than in urban areas.

Central to the winterization response will be addressing acute winter shelter needs for those homes with basic damage that can be repaired and improved.

IDPs in collective centres: The Government estimates approximately 950,000 IDPs are currently living in 5,670 collective centres. Initial assessments indicate a significant number of the occupied collective centres will require some form of repair in order to ensure they are winter-ready.

People living in war-damaged areas, particularly vulnerable people in isolated living conditions, not connected to main energy and heating infrastructure, and need prioritised technical support. Particular housing vulnerability exists in Kharkivska, Sumska, Zhytomyrska and Kyivska oblasts identified as ‘at-risk’ areas by the Government due to extensive damage to energy and heating infrastructure.

Central to the plan are gender considerations prioritising specific needs of women, men, girls and boys in vulnerable situations and from different marginalized groups in accessing safe and winter-adequate shelter. In many cases, displaced women and children have to rely on informal and unvetted sources of shelter, which poses a potential security risk. Women are particularly reliant on social support, access to which is hindered particularly in the occupied and war-affected areas.


Planned Activities

Area of intervention 1: Provision of core relief items

Provision of core relief items specific to winter, including thermal blankets, winter clothing, heating appliances, and solid fuel.

  • Household items: Target 300,000 people

  • Winter clothing: Target 300,000 people

  • Heating: Target 75,000 households

  • Solid Fuel: Target 50,000 households

  • Mobile boiler units: Target 650,000 people

Area of intervention 2: Provision of critical winterization repairs

Winterization repairs to: collective centres providing shelter for IDPs; insulation and repairs for homes in isolated rural areas; and, repairs for livestock shelters to ensure livelihood survival over the winter months.

  • Collective centre repair. Target 40,000 people

  • Insulation: Target 18,000 households

  • Livestock shelter repairs: Target 15,000 households

  • Heating & Water repair: Target 650,000 people


Coordination with Government

Close coordination with central and local government counterparts has been and remains critical in developing and delivering feasible and effective winterization support. To ensure synergy

  • humanitarian organizations will coordinate closely with Ukrainian Government plans for information sharing and support provided for targeted and effective activities;

  • activities will complement with existing similar government programmes (for example, winterization subsidies and social benefits).

  • Implementation planning, including pre-positioning of winterised relief stocks at sub national level, will be an essential part of the Plan. Strategic locations for pre-positioning of winterized stocks will be selected in partnership with government to improve responsiveness.


Switzerland and Liechtenstein assure continuation of protection for Ukrainian refugees

The Federal Council of Switzerland and Liechtenstein formally decided to maintain the temporary protection status of Ukrainian refugees. This extension enables refugees to be hosted in these two countries, who have already been welcomed in numbers beyond the regular magnitudes.

In a position paper, UNHCR urged the two governments to introduce improvements into their policy. A particular concern referred to clarifying specific groups that would be receiving temporary status, since third country nationals, binational couples, and dual nationals are unable to receive such status.

Upgrading the minimum standards for different types of accommodation was a further recommendation through dialogues with host households and their eventual evaluations. The UN agency likewise favored to have flexibility in the revocation of the protection status by extending the period of return stay in Ukraine, which at present is 15 days, a period deemed limited and not supportive of the unique context of Ukrainian refugees.


Source: Maintien du statut de protection temporaire S: le HCR salue la décision du Conseil fédéral

Black Sea Grain Initiative Resumed

On November 2, the UN Secretary General welcomed the news of the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The UN-brokered, which is implemented through a Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) in Istanbul involving Russia, Ukraine, and Türkiye, was signed in July, to allow grain, oil and other foodstuffs to leave the war-torn country for markets overseas – many of which are in desperate need of food from Europe’s “breadbasket” to stave off the threat of famine.

On October 29, Russia announced it was suspending its cooperation and would no longer guarantee the safe passage along the agreed humanitarian corridor of ships through the Black Sea, claiming that Ukraine had launched an attack on its military vessels in Crimea. However, through diplomatic efforts of Turkey and the UN Coordinator, Russia will resume its participation in the Black Sea grain deal, as announced by its defense ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Written guarantees were obtained from Ukraine on not using the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports designated for the export of agricultural products for military operations against the Russian Federation were obtained and submitted to the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) on 1 November 2022.

Through this initiative, nearly 25 per cent of all exports (over 1.8 milion metric tons) have since gone to low and lower-middle income countries with vulnerable populations. Some 25 per cent of grain has gone to upper-middle income countries, and the rest went to high-income countries. Corn is by far the most exported grain, comprising nearly 43 per cent of overall cargo, followed by wheat, and sunflower oil.


Source: Three months into the Black Sea Grain Initiative: What’s been achieved — and why it’s important

UN chief warmly welcomes Russia decision to end suspension from Ukraine grain deal

HOLY FATHER ON UKRAINE

General Audience - November 9, 2022

Almost sixty years ago, the Second Vatican Council, speaking about building an edifice of peace, stated that “it certainly demands that [men and women] extend their thoughts and their spirit beyond the confines of their own nation, that they put aside national selfishness and ambition to dominate other nations, and that they nourish a profound reverence for the whole of humanity, which is already making its way so laboriously toward greater unity” (Gaudium et spes, 82). This is what the Council says. I sensed this need in Bahrain and I hoped that religious and civil leaders throughout the world might be able to look beyond their own borders, their own communities, to care for the whole. This is the only way to confront certain universal issues, for example, that God is being forgotten, the tragedy of hunger, the care of creation, peace. These things can be thought of all together. In this sense, the Forum for dialogue entitled: “East and West for Human Coexistence” – this was the title, “East and West for Human Coexistence” – encouraged the choice of the path of encounter and the rejection of confrontation. How much we need this! There is such a need to encounter each other. I have in mind the insanity of war – insane – of which battered Ukraine is a victim, and of many other conflicts, that will never be resolved through the infantile logic of artillery, but only with the gentle power of dialogue. But in addition to Ukraine, which is being tormented, this land. But let’s think of the wars that last for years, and let’s think of Syria – more than 10 years! -- let’s think, for example, of Syria, let’s think of the children in Yemen, let’s think of Myanmar: all over the place! Right now, Ukraine is closer. And what does war do? It destroys, it destroys humanity, destroys everything. Conflicts are not to be resolved through war.

Quasi sessant’anni fa il Concilio Vaticano II, parlando della costruzione dell’edificio della pace, affermava che «tale opera esige che [gli uomini] dilatino la loro mente e il loro cuore al di là dei confini della propria nazione, deponendo ogni egoismo nazionale ed ogni ambizione di supremazia su altre nazioni, e nutrendo invece un profondo rispetto verso tutta l’umanità, avviata ormai faticosamente verso una maggiore unità» (Gaudium et spes, 82). In Bahrein ho avvertito questa esigenza e ho auspicato che, in tutto il mondo, i responsabili religiosi e civili sappiano guardare al di fuori dei propri confini, delle proprie comunità, per prendersi cura dell’insieme. Solo così si possono affrontare certi temi universali, per esempio la dimenticanza di Dio, la tragedia della fame, la custodia del creato, la pace. Insieme, si pensa questo. In questo senso il Forum di dialogo, dal titolo “Est e Ovest per la coesistenza umana”, ha esortato a scegliere la via dell’incontro e a rifiutare quella dello scontro. Quanto bisogno ne abbiamo! Quanto bisogno abbiamo di incontrarci! Penso alla folle guerra – folle! – di cui è vittima la martoriata Ucraina, e a tanti altri conflitti, che non si risolveranno mai attraverso l’infantile logica delle armi, ma solo con la forza mite del dialogo. Ma oltre l’Ucraina, che è martoriata, pensiamo alle guerre che durano da anni, e pensiamo alla Siria – più di 10 anni! – pensiamo ad esempio alla Siria, pensiamo ai bambini dello Yemen, pensiamo al Myanmar: dappertutto! Adesso, più vicina è l’Ucraina, a cosa fanno le guerre? Distruggono, distruggono l’umanità, distruggono tutto. I conflitti non vanno risolti attraverso la guerra.

Links to the full text in ITALIAN and ENGLISH


Angelus - November 13, 2022

Let us always remain close to our brothers and sisters in martyred Ukraine. Close in prayer and with concrete solidarity. Peace is possible! Let us not resign ourselves to war.

Rimaniamo sempre vicini ai nostri fratelli e sorelle della martoriata Ucraina. Vicini con la preghiera e con la solidarietà concreta. La pace è possibile! Non rassegniamoci alla guerra.

Links to the full text in ITALIAN and ENGLISH

Pope prays for Ukraine as Kherson residents welcome Ukrainian troops

Pope: 'War will never be resolved through the childish logic of weapons'

Pope Francis meets with head of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church

"The war in Ukraine is a colonial war, and the peace proposals coming from Russia are colonial appeasement proposals," the archbishop told the pope, according to his office. "These proposals involve the denial of the existence of the Ukrainian people, their history, culture and even the church. It is the denial of the very right to the existence of the Ukrainian state, recognized by the international community with its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Pontifical diplomacy, Shevchuk by Cardinal Parolin

In the morning, the meeting of the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church with the Vatican Secretary of State. The possibility of a mediation in Ukraine. Parolin's words at COP 27

Original article in ITALIAN / Google Translate into ENGLISH

The Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, offers his thoughts on Pope Francis' recent appeal for an end to the war in the country.

Nuncio to Ukraine: 'We are used to war, but we must pray for peace'

As Russia steps up strikes on Ukrainian cities, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ukraine, discusses the situation on the ground, and the importance of the Church's response to the crisis.