Statement by the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, on the third-year mark of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine

However, this nightmare for Ukrainians didn’t begin three years ago, but in 2014 when the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine were violated. The illegal annexation by the Russian Federation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and protracted hostilities in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk caused the first wave of widespread suffering and displacement. 

For eleven years, Ukrainian citizens have been killed and injured and have lost their homes and livelihoods to the war. Numerous children born since 2014 have never experienced peace in their home country.

For the past six months as UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, I’ve travelled to dozens of cities and villages along the frontline and all over Ukraine. People have spoken to me in deeply moving ways of their pain and desperation. I remember vividly meeting last month in Kharkiv region a group of mostly elderly people exiting a bus supported by the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund that had brought them from their remote villages near the frontline to pick up some essential items and do some banking. 

They shared the saddest memories of loved ones that are no longer and lost or destroyed homes. And a woman I met last month together with our Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher in her Kharkiv apartment that was badly damaged because of a missile strike was still so traumatized months after it happened that she could hardly speak about the experience she went through being in the apartment at the time.  

At least 12,605 civilians were killed in three years, and more than 29,178 were injured. With missiles and drones reaching Western borders, nowhere in Ukraine is safe. Millions of people who fled the country or were displaced internally are unable to return as their native cities and villages have been destroyed, and the surrounding land is densely strewn with mines and other explosive devices.

The war has been a heavy blow to the Ukrainian economy. Many Ukrainian enterprises that gave people jobs stopped or were destroyed. The brutal Russian air strikes have severely damaged the national energy system, as well as hundreds of educational and healthcare institutions. A humanitarian crisis is devastating and the “hidden crisis” - the mental health crisis - will resonate for generations.

Yet, I’ve seen more to this gruesome picture – in the depths of this unimaginable darkness there’s hope and strength. There are hundreds of stories of pain and grief, but a thousand more of determined work to rebuild. Ukrainian people are not surrendering to despair, they rebuild, they invent, they support each other.  Despite their unfathomable grief, the group of older people I mentioned earlier still managed to smile and express joy at the prospect of a better future!

I’ve seen schoolchildren eager to learn in underground shelters, veterans injured by the war training for humanitarian demining, displaced people starting sustainable businesses from scratch. I’ve seen women leaders advocating for their communities, youth determined to be part of rebuilding and recovery, and vulnerable communities including Roma and persons with disabilities speaking up for the future and against injustice.

We must continue supporting Ukraine. In line with the UN Charter and General Assembly resolutions, the United Nations remains fully committed to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. 

We call on member states, organizations, and individuals to not forget Ukraine. Ukraine’s voice must be heard clearly, and this unbearable war must end in a just and lasting peace. Achieving this in Ukraine would send a powerful signal for strengthening international peace and security.