Ukrainians continue to face near daily attacks, with air strikes consistently targeting civilian infrastructure, leaving families without homes, security and electricity. More than 10 million people have been uprooted from their homes, making Ukraine the largest displacement crisis in Europe since the Second World War.

Some 12,600 civilians have been killed and more than 29,000 injured. Thousands of attacks on health facilities have left doctors working under near impossible conditions. Throughout the fighting, the UN has remained an ever-present support, helping to deliver aid, providing emergency healthcare and reconnecting damaged power supplies.

The future for Ukraine remains unclear but, as Matthias Schmale, the UN Resident and Humanitarian coordinator for the country, told UN News, the United Nations has been planning for a range of post-conflict scenarios.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length

“The general sense within the diplomatic community is that we are closing in on a ceasefire, and that this may happen sooner rather than later. That’s one scenario that we are preparing for by intensifying our ongoing recovery and development efforts.

The UN is already doing incredible work helping to restore energy facilities that have been hit, and without that work the people of this country would be much worse off, especially in these cold conditions.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reopened or rebuilt primary healthcare facilities along the frontline that were at one point closed or destroyed. If the guns stay silent, we can obviously do much more to help.

A heavy toll on mental health

Our partners, which include governments, appreciate that the UN is all about leaving no one behind, so we are looking at the groups that are likely to be vulnerable once the war ends.

War veterans are one such group. I have been frequently told that around a million people are involved in the fighting, many of them heavily armed. Hundreds of thousands of people will return traumatised from the frontline, after some two to three years away from their families. This could cause tension, including an increase in gender-based violence.

The country will continue to suffer from the impacts of this horrible war for some time, particularly in terms of mental health issues.

Again, the UN System is providing support. For example, the UN Development Programme has helped to develop a digital app specially aimed at veterans, to help them to access the services they might need, and we are running over 80 “safe spaces” where vulnerable people, such as survivors of gender-based violence and children of those internally displaced, can talk about their experiences and receive counselling.

There’s also a lot of speculation that refugees will start to come back, and a few months ago our colleagues in the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), in collaboration with the government, launched a website that gives refugees abroad information about what services they can access when they return, to help them find housing or jobs. We’re trying to be ready to significantly scale up this work.

UNICEF supplies arrive in Shevchenkove village, Kharkiv region, Ukraine (January 2025)

Ready to deal with any scenario

The big open question is what the ceasefire deal will look like, in particular with regard to the occupied territories in eastern and southern Ukraine. Around a million Ukrainians are living in these regions, and we don’t know what will happen to them. Will there be a demilitarised zone? Will an international peacekeeping force maintain the ceasefire deal? And what are the opportunities for the provision of humanitarian aid?

On the other hand, whilst everyone hopes the guns will be silenced, the opposite could happen. There are several nuclear power plants in Ukraine, and if one of them takes a direct hit, we could all of a sudden be facing a major nuclear catastrophe. Government officials are extremely concerned about this [on 15 February, the UN atomic energy agency, IAEA, reported that a drone strike had pierced a hole in the structure built to prevent radioactive material leaking from the damaged Chernobyl reactor. Despite significant damage, the IAEA recorded no change in radiation levels at the site].

Whatever happens, we are trying to ensure that the UN is as agile and as mentally prepared as possible for any scenario.”

As fighting escalates in eastern DRC, more than 40,000 Congolese refugees – primarily women and children – have crossed into Burundi since February, with over 9,000 arrivals recorded in a single day this week.

Many are using makeshift boats to traverse the Rusizi River, a perilous crossing at the border shared by Burundi, DRC and Rwanda.

“The escalating security situation in the DR Congo has been having a serious impact on the Burundi side. Over the past few weeks, we have observed a large number of Congolese who have been crossing into Burundi,” said Brigitte Mukanga-Eno, UNHCR’s Representative in Burundi, at a press briefing in Geneva. 

The situation is set to worsen as hostilities move closer to Uvira, a key town near Burundi’s main official border crossing.

A surge in displacement 

UNHCR has welcomed the Burundian government’s decision to grant prima facie refugee status to those fleeing the conflict, ensuring immediate protection. However, the unprecedented influx is straining local resources. 

“This is the very first time that Burundi is receiving this large number of people in a matter of a few days”, Ms. Mukanga-Eno noted. “The last one was in the early 2000s, so everyone is overwhelmed: the government, but also the humanitarian actors in the country.”

While around 6,000 refugees have entered through Bujumbura’s official border post, the vast majority – more than 36,000 – have arrived via the Rusizi River, often in critical condition after long journeys on foot.  

Some have walked for days. “The other day, we had a case of a woman who was transporting her children and not knowing that they were already dead”, Ms. Mukanga-Eno shared.  

Dire conditions at reception sites 

The government has permitted refugees to shelter temporarily at the Rugombo Stadium in open-air conditions, as well as in schools and churches. However, these sites are overcrowded and dangerously close to the border.

“Unfortunately, the conditions for receptions are very limited,” Ms. Mukanga-Eno said. The government has allocated land to create a more sustainable settlement, but for now, people are still in schools and stadiums without adequate shelter, she explained.

UNHCR teams on the ground report severe shortages of food, water and sanitation facilities. Cases of measles have already been detected, prompting an emergency vaccination campaign targeting children under 15. 

She said the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has put water tanks in place, while the World Food Programme (WFP) “has also been able to deploy some food for us to make sure that we can provide hot meals to the people who are coming.”  

Medical services are also stretched, with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) running a mobile clinic to treat refugees suffering from malnutrition, disease and trauma.

Many people have endured extreme violence before reaching Burundi, with psychosocial support urgently needed.

Regional displacement  

Beyond Burundi, smaller but significant numbers of displaced people have reached other neighbouring countries.

Since January, Uganda has registered over 13,000 arrivals, mostly through the Nyakabande transit centre. 

In Tanzania, 53 Congolese refugees sought asylum in Kigoma on 19 February, marking the highest daily arrival figure this year. 

UNHCR’s $40.4 million appeal aims to provide life-saving assistance to 275,000 internally displaced people in the DR Congo, as well as support a projected influx of 258,000 refugees and returnees across Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

“We were targeting about 58,000 people. We have already received more than 40,000,” Ms. Mukanga-Eno said, calling for urgent support from donors to prevent further suffering. 

Since the ceasefire on 19 January, some 138,000 Palestinians have benefited from cash assistance, including people with disabilities and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that market conditions across Gaza have improved since the ceasefire took effect. Goods are reportedly less expensive, and more commodities are available. 

Diet diversity improving

Furthermore, for the first time since July, children under age five and pregnant and breastfeeding women have a more diverse diet. They are consuming more fruit, vegetables, eggs and dairy products.                                                                    

Humanitarians also continue to provide shelter support to people in Gaza, with the UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, distributing tents, tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses, clothes and kitchen items to thousands of families hosted in 120 shelters. 

West Bank hostilities

Meanwhile, OCHA remains concerned by Israeli forces’ ongoing operations in the northern part of the West Bank which began on 21 January, the longest there since the early 2000s. 

OCHA warned that settler violence also continues. Between 11 and 17 February, the agency documented 34 incidents – an average of almost five per day – involving settlers and resulting in casualties or property damage. 

In one incident, Israeli settlers severed agricultural water pipes in the Tulkarm governorate, affecting the livelihoods of a dozen Palestinian farmers. 

During the same period, nearly 40 Palestinians were displaced near Al Maniya village in Bethlehem following recurrent attacks from Israeli settlers over the past year.   

Access restrictions imposed by Israeli authorities continue to hinder Palestinians’ movement, affecting access to markets, workplaces, emergency services and health and educational facilities.

OCHA has documented the displacement of almost 2,300 Palestinians, including 1,100 children, across the West Bank since the start of 2023 due to heightened settler violence and access restrictions by Israeli authorities. 

In other developments:

Ensure return of human remains

UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the Secretary-General is deeply concerned by reports that the remains of an Israeli hostage in Gaza, Shiri Bibas, which were due to be returned on Thursday alongside her children’s remains, are still missing.

The Secretary-General “stresses the imperative to respect the dignity of the deceased and to ensure their remains are returned to their families in accordance with international humanitarian law and human rights law,” he said.

He underlined that every release must be carried out with the utmost dignity and in line with humanitarian principles.

The Secretary-General renewed his appeal to the parties to abide by all their commitments and continue the full implementation of the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Tom Fletcher was addressing the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) which was set up by the UN General Assembly in the early 1990s as a coordination forum for humanitarian aid worldwide.

“The humanitarian community confronts a massive funding, morale, and legitimacy crisis,” he said, framing his remarks as personal reflections based on earlier discussions within the IASC.

“We took time to recognize the devastating impact that funding cuts will have on those we serve, our partners, and our teams,” he continued.

Without referencing any specific loss in funding – but against the backdrop of a suspension of most humanitarian spending by the new administration in Washington – Mr. Fletcher appealled for the aid community to be “calm, brave, principled, and united.”

He said they need to make the case strongly for greater international solidarity.

“We can draw confidence from extraordinary progress made by humanitarians over decades. The mission is right. Our allies are still out there. But the delivery system is struggling. We need to be lighter, faster, and less bureaucratic.”

Four-point plan

The UN relief chief said there needed to be four priorities: first, be clear that saving lives is paramount.

“We agreed to remain independent, neutral, and impartial. This does not mean we do not pick a side: we are on the side of those in greatest need.”

Secondly, he said duplication and bureaucracy must be pared down under a new “bold plan” of action.

“Donors must simplify too. We must innovate or become obsolete. We will prioritize robustly and make the toughest choices. I have commissioned urgent work to identify how we could reach the 100 million people in greatest need.”

‘Genuine partnership’ with private sector

He said aid chiefs must find new partners, not just rely on traditional sources and governments. This must include “genuine partnership” with the private sector and the World Bank.

“I believe there is a movement of billions of people who care, and who want to act in solidarity with those in most need. We should launch a public campaign to fill in the gaps left by governments, targeting the equivalent of 0.7 per cent for each country.”

Mr. Fletcher said turf wars between agencies need to end with each organization focusing on what it does “uniquely well”.

Leadership needs to be empowered, he added, with great authority vested in UN Humanitarian Coordinators throughout the system.

Third, there needs to be more devolution, giving more power and accountability to local partners who are suffering the most from cuts.

Fourth, aid workers need to defend their work more robustly.

End impunity

“We need to call time on the era of impunity: end attacks on civilians and aid workers; and hold perpetrators to account. We must communicate more clearly the impact we have and the cost of inaction, with humanity not institutions at the heart of the story.”

Humanitarians worldwide are “underfunded, overstretched and under attack,” he declared, but the argument for lifesaving aid has not been lost: “Our cause is mighty, and our movement is strong.”

Briefing from Ukrainian capital Kyiv after another night of “air sirens and more loud explosions”, Mr. Schmale noted that the crisis began in 2014, with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. “So, all children that were born since – all children up to the age of 11 – have never experienced their country at peace,” he said.

According to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, 2024 saw a 30 per cent increase in civilian casualties compared to 2023. “The humanitarian situation is worsening, especially in frontline areas,” it said in an update, highlighting that a full 36 per cent of Ukraine’s population – 12.7 million people – needs humanitarian aid this year.

“There are very strong pushes by the armed forces of the Russian Federation along the front line and evacuations are ongoing,” Mr. Schmale explained. “We are supporting people with essential goods, including cash assistance, as they are on the move to transit centres, collective sites and wherever they end up being.”

Speaking from Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, Toby Fricker from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that more than 2,520 children have been killed or injured since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.

“The real number is likely far higher and it’s getting worse”, said Mr. Fricker, chief of communication in Ukraine. “There was a more than 50 per cent increase in child casualties in 2024 compared to 2023 and what we see is no place is safe: schools, maternity wards, children’s hospitals, all have been affected by attacks.”

Behind battle lines

Underscoring the essential role played by women in Ukraine “beyond the battlefield”, UN Women Geneva Director Sofia Calltorp explained that “there is another story unfolding, and that is the story of all those women and girls who are bearing the brunt of this war.”

In 2024, the number of people killed and injured in Ukraine increased by 30 per cent, Ms. Calltorp noted. “Of them, 800 women lost their lives and more than 3,700 women were injured last year in Ukraine. We also know that the vast majority of Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons are women, and 6.7 million women are in need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.”

Funding crisis

Responding to questions about the impact of the US funding freeze on humanitarian work, Ukraine Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. Schmale expressed “hope that US funding will become part of the equation. Last year, it made up 30 per cent of what we spent on the humanitarian side, 10 per cent on the development side.”

The UN’s top aid official in Ukraine added: “We are of course worried about the funding freezes; as we all know, it’s not the end of the day yet, there are a lot of discussions going on. We have some of our partners, including within the UN, that have received some exemptions from the general freeze of funding, but so far, no money has been flowing as a result of those exemptions.”

In addition to repeated attacks on energy infrastructure across Ukraine, other public facilities have also been targeted, with 780 health centres and more than 1,600 schools damaged or destroyed, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

“In Odessa this week we saw a health clinic providing care for 40,000 children and a kindergarten serving 250 of the youngest children were severely damaged in an attack,” said Dr Jarno Harbicht, WHO Country Representative for Ukraine. “When a children’s hospital is hit, a school shelled or electric grid destroyed, children suffer even when they survive.”

Haunted by drones

The mental stress faced by millions of Ukrainians because of the war is real and debilitating, the WHO official continued: “Imagine a young mother in Kharkiv region in Ukraine, her days interrupted by air raid sirens and her nights haunted by drones. Each day is a struggle balancing her children’s safety with their anxiety that has become her constant companion.”

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (HRMMU) has confirmed the killing of more than 12,654 civilian men, women, girls, and boys since the full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, with nearly 30,000 injured. Eighty-four per cent of the casualties happened in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and 16 per cent in territory occupied by Russia.

“Three years of full-scale conflict in Ukraine have wrought persistent and escalating human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law,” said Danielle Bell, Chief of HRMMU. “As the civilian toll grows heavier, the human rights of all those affected must remain at the forefront of  any negotiations for sustainable peace.”

Rising toll

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (HRMMU) has confirmed the killing of more than 12,654 civilian men, women, girls, and boys since the full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, with nearly 30,000 injured. Eighty-four per cent of the casualties happened in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and 16 per cent in territory occupied by Russia.

“Three years of full-scale conflict in Ukraine have wrought persistent and escalating human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law,” said Danielle Bell, Chief of HRMMU. “As the civilian toll grows heavier, the human rights of all those affected must remain at the forefront of  any negotiations for sustainable peace.”