Opening remarks by Assistant Secretary-General, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, during her press briefing at the UN Office in Geneva

Thank you, and good morning. 

I would like to really speak to you about Kharkiv and give you a flavour of what is happening in that part of Ukraine, where there has been a very clear intensification of the war over the past couple of months. When I say that, let me explain what I mean.

We have over 100 UN staff based in the city of Kharkiv. So, I am there quite often. And on one of my last trips there, two weeks ago, there were 12 sirens during the day and 12 explosions. There is a constant disruption to daily life in the city of Kharkiv. And for the moment, I am just speaking about the city and what's going on there. But I will expand that to the whole region in a moment. I was also there, I think it was two weeks ago – one tends to lose track of time in Ukraine – when the Epicentr, which is a huge market, supermarket or hardware market, was hit on a Saturday afternoon by a missile strike. I was there the next day, I stood in front of the remnants of that building, which is at least a city block long, and it was a mass of twisted steel, broken glass and smoke so strong 24 hours later that I could still, when I left, smell it on my hands and clothes. 

So, it is a very hard reality in Kharkiv City for the 1 million, more than 1 million people who still live there. 

To give you a sense of how that city has changed, when I first went there in August 2022, when I arrived in Ukraine, it was a city which, because of the proximity of the front line, was pretty much empty. Walking along the streets, there were few people, most businesses were closed, only a few hotels and restaurants were open, and no electricity at night.

Almost two years later, people are on the streets, businesses are opening, and there are more hotels and restaurants. It is a city that is trying to reclaim itself and live despite the war. But the intensification — the constant strikes, the relentlessness of them, which OHCHR is monitoring and issuing reports about — does disrupt daily life. On the Saturday when the market was hit, it was not just a market; it was a building and a park. 

So, where do you go in Kharkiv that is safe for you and your family? 

People are not leaving the city. That is clear. IOM monitors population movements within the country, and people are holding on. So, it is important that everyone understands what is going on there. Secondly, there is the impact on the energy infrastructure in Kharkiv. It is not just in Kharkiv, though. It is in the whole of Ukraine.

When I left [Kyiv] last week to attend the Berlin conference [Ukraine Recovery Conference], the day before I left, there was a ten-hour blackout, which meant that backup systems also went down during the course of the day. But in Kharkiv, there are constant blackouts. Now, of course, we can all manage this during the summer months. The anticipation of the very, very cold winters in Ukraine that are huge concern, beginning in October. 

Children. You have heard the reports, but probably you have not gone to the schools in the metro. I have, and it is the only way children can safely study in the city of Kharkiv. You know, my initial reaction when I go down with the Mayor into the bowels of the metro and come across classrooms which look like regular classrooms full of children, teachers, learning science, learning math, full of the energy and enthusiasm that children have, my second thought is: but this is not normal. 

It is not normal that children have to study underground. 

Now, beyond the city, of course, we have to mention what is happening in Vovchansk, which is a hromada – a community – that we know well. I have been there myself a couple of times. There were regular humanitarian deliveries, supplies, and services that we provided there. Now mandatory evacuations have been taking place, according to the data that we have. We are not part of the evacuations; that is a Government decision. But we are there to receive people [in the arrival centres] with the local and national actors, and received up to 14,000 people. 

So, we have lost access to an important community like Vovchansk.

The people who were displaced from there, most of them, are now living in what we call collective centres – there are no camps in Ukraine, but collective centers. Lives lost, livelihoods lost, papers, documents also lost. So, we are looking at Vovchansk as potentially something that will be as destroyed as Bakhmut has been. 

We are talking about death, displacement, destruction and the lack of [humanitarian] access. It is not a very pretty picture. 

As I said, the UN has more than 100 staff there, and we are determined to stay. The NGOs, national and international, also have hundreds of people. So, assistance is being provided and OHCHR is documenting what is happening there. That is on Kharkiv.  

On [humanitarian] access in general, yes, we have lost access to places like Vovchansk in the Kharkiv Region but also important settlements like Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk Region, where I had been myself several times, and we are not able to go anymore. It is really not safe enough. Usually, we have very, very good access. We are able to go. It is not easy. I am not saying it is easy; I am saying we are able to go. But right now, we are not. 

So, as I watch the situation unfold and there is an intensification of the war, that is actually what it means: daily life disrupted. 

The lives of people I have met in Chasiv Yar in the region of Donetsk, who were determined to stay in their communities, you know, disrupted. Including this fabulous woman, Olga, 75 years old, who had worked there for 50 years and who was sort of in charge of the local government workers. When I went there the first time, she was telling us: you unload your trucks here, and this goes there, and this is what we need, and next time, please do this. Just the most amazing woman who is now in a place we cannot get to. 

So, please keep in mind that as there are discussions about the intensification of the war, the missile strikes and the bombs that are being used, there are people who are impacted every single day by what is happening in Ukraine.

And you may hear about a missile strike today and you will forget about it tomorrow, but understand that the impact is widespread. People lose their homes, they lose their lives, they are injured, businesses are closed, and people have to live in shelters. There is a whole ramification about what is going on there. 

I will just finish with the energy situation, which I am sure you are all aware of what has been happening.

The increasing targeted attacks against the energy infrastructure, the fact that since the war, at least 60 per cent of what Ukraine is able to produce has been lost. There are now intense efforts to which the UN is contributing to ensure that the alternate systems that are required – and I am not the energy specialist so I will not get into what that is – are in place before the winter months. It is a question of money, it is a question also of accessing these supplies on the global markets, and that there are safe and secure conditions for putting that equipment where it needs to go to keep the people of Ukraine warm over the very, very cold winter months. 

It is not a good picture. I am sure what I am saying is not a surprise to you. 

However, I do feel that all of us need to understand the ramifications for the people of Ukraine of the intensification of the war. The longer it continues, the more suffering there is. And there is a cumulative impact of different factors which are combining to make life very difficult. But – and you have heard people say it hundreds, thousands of times – the people of Ukraine are resilient. 

Yes, they are very determined, but they also need our support. 

Thank you.