Home to some 14,000 people, Mezhova is already hosting 5,000 internally displaced people. Angelina, 87, recently arrived at a transit centre in Mezhova. She fled her hometown, Myrnohrad, following a mandatory evacuation order due to intense fighting. “I had to leave my home in a hurry, but I forgot to close the door,” she confided, her voice trembling. She is worried about her cat and two dogs that she left behind, hoping her neighbour can care for them. “She’s not well herself, but I pray she won’t abandon my pets,” Angelina added. Despite her circumstances, Angelina is determined to return home. “I need to go back soon; my entire library is there,” she said, not fully grasping that it may be some time before she can return. The war escalated near Myrnohrad in early August, with no end in sight. 
Local authorities in the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk Region have established transit centres, including the one in Mezhova. These centres offer evacuees temporary refuge as they wait to be transported to safer areas of Ukraine. They receive food, hygiene kits, psychological support, legal aid and other essential services from local authorities and humanitarian organizations. Some evacuees, like Angelina, will eventually be hosted at collective sites; or they will find their own accommodation. During a recent visit to the region, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, visited the Mezhova transit centre and a former transit centre in Pokrovsk Town, located about 30 km away in the Donetsk Region. Two nights before his visit, an attack by the Russian Armed Forces severely damaged the Pokrovsk Town transit centre, rending it functional. “This is unacceptable,” said Mr. Schmale. “People must be safe in places like this.” In meetings with the regional authorities of the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk Regions, Mr. Schmale reiterated that the humanitarian community would continue assisting people affected by the war, complementing the Government’s response.

With the support of UNOPS and the European Union, the school is being restored, offering a beacon of hope amid the ongoing challenges.In the heart of Kharkiv, a school that once brimmed with life and energy has become a quiet monument to the challenges faced during war. The courtyard, where children used to joyfully ride their bikes, now lies mostly silent. Once, the playground was a hub of activity, hosting a unique cycling program that engaged students, teachers, and even the head teacher, Alla Zub. Some students became local champions, their victories celebrated by the entire school community.But today, two and half years after Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, the scene has drastically changed. The playground stands mostly empty, with only a few local children who still live nearby occasionally visiting. It serves as a quiet testament to the devastating  impacts  the war has had on  this school and the surrounding communities. In total, the school has been struck three times. The most devastating strike occurred in August 2022. Missiles hit the building – shattering windows, damaging walls and destroying the ceiling. Thankfully, the building was empty, sparing lives but leaving behind destruction and a deep sense of uncertainty. “This was about a month into the invasion – a terrible time for Kharkiv. We were scared and confused, not sure what to do,” recalls Alla Zub, the head teacher. This school once educated over 770 students, including children with disabilities. The facilities were equipped to ensure a comfortable learning environment for every student, including an accessible elevator. Today, many students are scattered across different parts of the world,  while some now attend makeshift classrooms in the Kharkiv metro. Both the students and staff alike, including  Alla, long for the day they can return to their beloved school.“I am in touch with many of the families, and I can tell how much they want to go back to normal,” says Alla.“Going to school and socializing with your peers is such an essential childhood experience. It pains me to see how kids are being deprived of it. Ever since the Covid[-19] pandemic four years ago, we’ve had to deal with constant disruption, and it takes a toll on everyone involved: children, parents and teachers.” Despite the destruction, and the disruption to many lives, hope has not been lost. Thanks to the School Repairs in Ukraine project, funded by the European Union and implemented by UNOPS, the school has been repaired. Damaged windows and doors have been replaced, classrooms renovated, and new modern furniture installed. The building, now restored, stands ready to welcome students once more, even if the day of their returns remains uncertain.  The restoration of this school is part of a broader effort to repair educational facilities across Ukraine. The project has already completed work on 26 schools in four regions, with plans to restore over 75 schools in total. "Education is the cornerstone of development and prosperity, which is why the EU is committed to ensuring that Ukrainian children have access to quality learning, despite all the challenges posed by Russia's invasion," says Marianna Franco, Head of the European Union Humanitarian Aid Office in Ukraine. "We believe that schools need to be repaired as soon as possible. We are also supporting the establishment of appropriate shelters so that learning environments are as safe as possible and children in Ukraine can pursue their dreams and ambitions".For now, the school remains empty, maintained by a skeleton staff. The older students continue their education online, which has proven difficult due to unreliable technology and frequent power outages caused by ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Younger students face the choice between online learning or attending classes in the city’s metro stations – a solution that requires families to navigate logistical hurdles and anxieties related to travelling further distances in a war zone.Yet, in the silence, there is still hope. “The repairs give me, and I hope others too, a sense of hope for the future. We are one step closer to normality, closer to the way things used to be,” reflects Alla.  This initiative, which represents a significant investment in Ukraine's future, aims to create safe, welcoming environments where children can continue their education without interruption.“Schools are often at the heart of their local communities, and so helping repair them is a great privilege for us. This project still has much work to do, but the team remains committed to completing our support to all our nominated schools to the highest degree of quality, as quickly as possible,” explains Paul Cruickshank, Senior Project Manager. “At all times, we remain keenly aware that the sites we work at are part of a critical social fabric," he adds.As the school looks forward to welcoming its students back, the community holds onto the hope that one day, the laughter and energy of the children will once again fill the courtyard. Until then, the building stands as a testament to the resilience of a community that refuses to let war extinguish its spirit.About the projectThe Schools Repairs in Ukraine project, funded by the European Union and implemented by UNOPS, aims to repair educational facilities that have been damaged during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This $30 million initiative is being implemented in  the regions of Chernihiv, Kyiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, focusing on schools requiring light to medium repair work.The primary objective of the project is to provide access to repaired school facilities which will increase the proportion of children receiving face-to-face education. By rehabilitating more than 75 schools, the project will help restore facilities to a safe and welcoming environment where children can continue their education without interruption.

Shortly after a deadly attack hit a children’s hospital in Kyiv in July 2024, a team of UN Human Rights officers and experts were busy at the site, interviewing medical staff, parents and residents, meticulously monitoring and documenting the realities of war. As the team carried out its work, stunned-looking children sat in hospital beds set up in parks and streets, their bodies still connected to medical drips, while smoke rose from rubble.The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation is inflicting immense suffering on the people of Ukraine. Thousands of civilians have lost their lives. Relentless attacks continue to destroy homes, hospitals and schools. Entire neighbourhoods and villages have been erased. Millions were forced to flee their homes, tearing families apart. Summary executions, torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and sexual violence have occurred with impunity.The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) was established in 2014 to monitor and report on the human rights situation in the country. Since 24 February 2022, the mission has intensified its work of documenting violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed by all parties to the conflict, aiming to protect human rights and promote accountability and justice.With the invasion well into its third year, Danielle Bell, the Head of Mission, believes that the continued monitoring and documentation of human rights violations will help ensure that accountability and justice become a reality one day.The mission’s 75 staff members meet daily with people who are directly affected by the conflict, said Bell, to offer a “firsthand, credible and reliable account of human rights violations and civilian protection trends in the entire country, including in occupied territory.” “We're the only UN organization with a monitoring presence near the front line, which means we meet daily with people who are directly affected by the conflict.“DANIELLE BELL, HEAD OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS MISSION IN UKRAINEThrough its diligent work of documenting and producing evidence-based reports on the human rights situation, the mission supports accountability mechanisms and facilitates victims' and survivors’ access to justice.Behind every report there are human stories, Bell points out. “I did not want to leave”Viktor, 83, was among the thousands of people evacuated from the northern Kharkiv region during an offensive by Russian armed forces in May 2024. Residents described having to shelter in basements with no electricity for days or even weeks on end amid intense artillery shelling and aerial bombardments.Viktor said his house, just 2 km from the border, was destroyed by a bomb, which also injured one of his sons. Some fled with little more than a few bags of clothes, some carrying their pets. Many women arrived at government displacement centres wearing sandals and light summer dresses.“I stayed because it was my house. I did not want to leave,” said Viktor at an aid centre in Kharkiv city.Older people and people with disabilities face special difficulties when forced to evacuate, but Viktor managed to reach safety with the help of his granddaughter. “Leaving was a difficult decision. I am old and I have a hard time walking. I don’t know where I am going to live now.”During the offensive, HRMMU teams travelled to the field to conduct extensive interviews with people who had been evacuated from frontline areas. “I only took a suitcase with me”Lina’s eyes well up when she reminisces about her old life. “We had everything: good salaries, apartments, nice weather,” she said.Lina fled the city of Enerhodar, in southeastern Ukraine, after it was occupied by Russian forces.“I only took a suitcase with me. I had to leave my bed-ridden mother with a nurse and my brother,” said Lina.Her mother died in March 2023, but Lina is determined to keep the last promise she made to her.“I promised her that I would come back,” she said. “We thought it was going to be some months, but it has been more than two years.”Lina, who works in the city of Zaporizhzhia helping other Ukrainians who have fled occupied areas of Ukraine, described how residents there were under increasing pressure to obtain Russian passports to facilitate daily life.“Health services are not being provided for people with Ukrainian passports, so people are being forced to obtain Russian passports,” she said, adding that older persons and people with disabilities are the most affected.A recent HRMMU report detailed measures taken by the Russian Federation to apply Russian language, citizenship, laws, and education curricula in occupied territories of Ukraine, while suppressing expressions of Ukrainian culture and identity. “We had a beautiful house”“We had a beautiful house, with a big garden and bees, and we made our own honey. We were respected in our communities. But we had to leave everything behind. Why did this happen to us?” asked Polina.Polina, 67, and her husband Oleksandr, 65, are Ukrainian refugees living in Moldova. Both Polina and Oleksandr have heart problems, and left their village in Mykolaiv region, in southern Ukraine, after hiding in their basement with their grandchildren for five days while the village was being shelled by Russian forces.“The sounds of the bombs were very scary. It was horrible. A lot of buildings were destroyed. A bomb fell 40 metres from our house. We could hear the bombs from the basement. We thought the house could become our grave if a bomb fell on top of us,” said Polina, a former teacher.Fearing for their health, the couple decided to flee in April 2024. They now live in a small apartment in the capital Chisinau with their oldest grandson, Andrii, 16, who does repair jobs to help pay rent.“We came with no clothes for summer. We don’t know what will happen to us. Our grandson is here to help us, but we cannot afford the rent,” said Oleksandr, a former electrician.Millions of civilians have had to leave everything behind. Many are traumatised and need support, particularly vulnerable populations. A referral program by the UN Human Rights Office in Moldova that assists vulnerable refugees from Ukraine ensured that Polina and Oleksandr received medicines supplied by a local NGO.Polina and Oleksandr, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this October, say there has not been a single day in which they didn't dream of returning to their orchard, where they grew apricots, apples, peaches and plums and raised cows.“We miss our sons and grandchildren,” said Polina, showing a picture on her mobile of her smiling 14-months granddaughter. “The fields are contaminated with explosives”Few places have been as devasted as Ternovi Pody and its surrounding villages. There used to be 150 residents in Ternovi Pody, but today there are only eight.This once-thriving farming settlement, in the southern region of Mykolaiv, became a fierce battleground during the first months of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Most of the villages are now ghost towns, their houses and schools turned to rubble.“When we came back six months ago everything was destroyed,” said Oleksandr, 55.Oleksandr and his wife, Larysa, recently rebuilt the roof and are busy replanting their garden despite hearing explosions almost every day from the front line, 30 km away. Missiles sometimes fly over the area, fired from the opposite bank of the Dnieper River, and the buzz of military drones is constant.“The fields are contaminated with explosives. Every day we find explosives and ammunitions near the house,” said Larysa, 58.One elderly neighbour said she missed the village’s children. "We had schools. Now the children are gone," she said.Despite not having electricity, Oleksandr and Larysa are determined to stay.“I was born in this house and I want to live again in it,” he said.UN Human Rights staff travel near the front lines and meet daily with people in communities directly affected by the conflict.

Danielle Bell is the Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), established in 2014 to monitor and report on the human rights situation in the country. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022, the mission has intensified its work documenting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed by all parties to the conflict. Bell is a human rights specialist with more than two decades of experience, mainly leading UN human rights teams to monitor human rights in conflict and post-conflict settings.The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation is well into its third year. How would you describe the human rights situation in Ukraine?The invasion is having an immense impact on the Ukrainian people. More than 10,000 civilians have been killed and more than 20,000 injured. Relentless attacks continue to destroy homes, hospitals, schools, and infrastructure. Entire neighbourhoods and villages have been destroyed. A major children’s hospital in Kyiv was recently attacked. Millions have been forced to flee, separating families. Summary executions, torture, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, and sexual violence have occurred with impunity. In the Russian Federation, the conflict has also affected increasing numbers of Russian civilians, and there has been destruction and damage of civilian infrastructure. It’s easy to become numb to the scale of these figures, but our public reports are not just statistics. Every single figure we report has a human story behind it, often with dreadful suffering.How does the mission conduct its work in a situation of conflict?Our teams are out in the field every day. We ask both sides for access to affected areas, and pursue the access we have to the largest extent we can. We're the only UN organization with a monitoring presence near the front line, which means we meet daily with people who are directly affected by the conflict. This allows us to keep a record as accurate, credible and reliable as possible of how the conflict is affecting civilians while also examining the broader human rights consequences. Last October, a missile struck a café in the small Ukrainian village of Hroza, killing 59 people attending a funeral reception. Within 36 hours, we were in Hroza, walking down every street, speaking to villagers, and collecting details on the circumstances of the attack, so we were able to ascertain that every person killed was a civilian, and then made an initial assessment of who was responsible and the legality of the attack. Besides our fieldwork, we provide technical advice to national human rights institutions and assist national authorities develop laws and policies that are in line with international human rights standards.HRMMU was established with the aim of strengthening human rights protection in Ukraine, fostering access to justice, and ensuring that perpetrators of human rights violations are held to account. How is it contributing to accountability?Our public reports are a critical tool for accountability because they put facts on public record. Ukrainian domestic courts, including the Constitutional Court, have relied on our reports for important rulings on human rights. International and regional bodies like the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights have also referenced our work in recent findings. Additionally, our database serves as an important historical record, laying the groundwork for future accountability and truth, justice and reparation processes.
 “We will continue our meticulous documentation to ensure that accountability one day will be a reality.“DANIELLE BELL, HEAD OF UN HUMAN RIGHTS MISSION IN UKRAINE
HRMMU has been in the country since March 2014. How has the work changed?HRMMU is the only international organization that has maintained a presence here for 10 years. Our work has evolved as the human rights situation has changed. For example, a recent report sets out the serious human rights and humanitarian law violations by the Russian Federation in the past 10 years since the occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea. Since the full-scale invasion, we've focused on protection of civilians in armed conflict, looking at some of the broader conflict trends such as conflict-related sexual violence or the effect of the conflict on children and women. But the core of our work has not changed: our focus on key human rights issues and where we can make an impact. For instance, HRMMU is the only UN entity monitoring and reporting on the collaboration trials conducted by the Ukrainian authorities, which has led to positive results. Notably, in recent months, HRMMU observed a continued downward trend in the number of cases in which Ukrainian courts convicted persons for “collaboration activities” for conduct that could, in principle, be lawfully compelled by the occupying Power.
   What recent trends in violations have you observed?We have been seeing an alarming increase in civilian casualties since March this year, with July being the deadliest month for Ukraine’s civilians since October 2022. This surge is due to coordinated attacks launched by the Russian armed forces across Ukraine, including air strikes on a hospital complex in Kyiv, and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, which are causing the most harm in territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine. Also, large-scale attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have drastically reduced the country’s electricity capacity, leading to daily power cuts for millions of people across Ukraine. These outages, often lasting many hours, limit access to water, mobile networks and internet, and public transportation, and disrupt children’s ability to study, as many in Ukraine attend school remotely. Those who will be most impacted are the vulnerable groups, especially older people and persons with disabilities. And in the Russian Federation, the conflict has recently led to large numbers of civilians displaced from their homes, with all the implications that has for peoples’ enjoyment of human rights.What is the human rights situation of prisoners of war and civilian detainees?Since February 2022, we have interviewed over 600 released Ukrainian civilian detainees and prisoners of war (POWs), including POWs who were freed from Russian captivity during recent exchanges in spring and summer. We have continued to document widespread and routine use of torture and ill-treatment against civilians and POWs by Russian authorities, with testimonies of survivors describing unimaginable cruelty. When it comes to Russian POWs in Ukrainian captivity, we have unfettered access to official places of internment from Ukrainian authorities. In these cases, we have documented accounts of torture at transit locations after their evacuation from the battlefield. What’s important to note is that we engage with Ukrainian authorities, and this engagement and advocacy is promoting change. When we publicly reported on torture and ill-treatment of Russian POWs and advocated on this issue with Ukrainian authorities, we observed improvements in their treatment and conditions of internment.What are the main challenges of your work?The number one challenge is that we do not have access to Ukrainian territory that is under control of the Russian Federation, or to affected parts of the Russian Federation itself, despite our repeated requests. We've had to be creative in the way we do our monitoring. For example, going near the front line and meeting with people who are living in areas that were previously under Russian occupation. We have a remote team that works out of Moldova, who are able to have confidential and secured communications with people living inside occupied territory. We also maintained a regular monitoring presence in Sumy, which until early August was the only open border crossing point with Russia, where people could leave occupied territory. My team interviewed people when they first crossed back into Ukraine. In March, we published a report based on more than 2,300 interviews with victims and witnesses, detailing widespread violations by the Russian Federation carried out during its efforts to consolidate its control over the population in occupied territory.How do you counter misinformation? What methodology do you use?HRMMU is considered an authoritative source due to our OHCHR rigorous methodology. Our reports are based on data collected and corroborated during field missions, detention visits, trial monitoring, in-person and remote interviews with victims, witnesses, relatives, lawyers, government representatives, and civil society, as well as information drawn from court documents, official records, videos, and photographs. In concrete terms, we rely on multiple, diverse sources, each meticulously assessed for credibility and reliability. We do not simply accept second-hand information or rely on internet searches and broadcast channels; our work is built on thorough, on-the-ground research.How are staff doing their work in light of the situation?Keeping staff safe is another major challenge. There is a war going on and people are at risk when they go near the front line. Staff are committed because they know their work is critical. Aside from the stress of hearing explosions and air sirens day in and day out, speaking to people about their suffering is hard. We speak with people every day when they are at their most vulnerable, witnessing dreadful suffering, which certainly takes a toll.